Plage De Havre 'as good as he looks' says Andrew Balding as he eyes Ebor after Old Newton Cup romp at Haydock

Andrew Balding was adamant Plage De Havre is "as good as he looks" after Saeed Suhail's four-year-old destroyed his rivals in one of the most competitive staying handicaps of the entire season.

The historic bet365 Old Newton Cup is not meant to be won in such a manner but Plage De Havre could be called the winner a long way out under PJ McDonald to leave Balding excited about the future.  

"We think a lot of him and we never had an anxious moment," the trainer said. "He needs a strong gallop and a bit of cover to settle and he got everything today. He is as good as he looks."

Following the most commanding of victories in the £150,000 contest, Plage De Havre could be pointed towards Britain's most valuable Flat handicap next month.

"The Ebor is a possibility, although I'll have to discuss it with his owner as he's convinced a mile and a half is his trip," said Balding. "We're going to have limited options there, so it might be worth another try at going a bit further. He's definitely settling better now."

The red-hot Balding gained his tenth winner of the month already courtesy of the evergreen King's Lynn in the 7f handicap. The eight-year-old won the Temple Stakes here in 2022 in the colours of the late Queen, who also bred him out of dam Kinematic.

"The late Queen will be having a chuckle upstairs," Balding said. "It's very special. With him and Coltrane winning yesterday, they mean a lot. It's been a long time between drinks with this fellow but he's run some good races."  

Valuable one-two

A lengthy stewards' inquiry between the first two home followed the 1m6f three-year-old handicap, but either way the valuable prize was only going back to one place.

Pole Star held on to the race from stablemate Novelista after interference was considered to give Charlie Johnston a one-two in the £100,000 contest.

"They ran against each other at Doncaster and it wasn't a total shock because Pole Star is a big raw horse and he'd won here before," said Johnston's assistant Jock Bennett.

"We've won this race a few times and Subjectivist was second in it, and we'll take the same line as those horses."

The stewards did turn around the result of the 7f handicap with Santa Savana awarded the race from We Dare To Dream following interference. 

High fives

Luna A Inbhir Nis notched her fifth victory since the start of March when getting back to winning ways in the 5f handicap for three-year-olds under Jason Hart.

The filly, whose name means Moon Over Inverness in Gaelic, was denied in her bid for a four-timer at York last month, but got her head back in front on the easier ground. 

"She's just fantastic," said trainer Katie Scott. "Her owners [Summerstorm Bloodstock] were patient with her at the back end — her knees were a little bit weak so we put her away — and they've reaped the rewards now. She has a few options and I'd ideally like to keep her to three-year-old races."

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