'He was a very gormless young horse' - bargain buy proves Portman's prowess

Monday: Lingfield

Jonathan Portman proved his training prowess as Way Of Life, who cost just £800, completed a four-timer in the 1m4f handicap.

The four-year-old struck twice on the all-weather over the winter and completed a hat-trick at Wolverhampton earlier this month, on his first start since December, before extending his winning sequence under Hector Crouch.

"He’s got the hang of things now hasn’t he?," said Portman to Sky Sports Racing. "He was a very gormless young horse but he was very cheap, he’s won four so we’re very happy.

"We’ve had to pick the right races and the handicapper was reasonable to us last time giving us 3lb so we felt we could squeeze into a 0-65. We’re not getting overexcited in this grade, but to keep winning with a cheap horse is what we do and it’s great."

Gamble landed

Another Lambourn trainer had cause for celebration as Wonder Elmossman landed a gamble for Stan Moore in the feature mile handicap.

Sent off at 3-1, having been 8-1 with some firms overnight, the four-year-old, who has been leading up Moore’s 2,000 Guineas outsider The Wizard Of Eye at home, was steered to a first win of the season by John Egan.

It completed a quickfire double for Moore as Ruith Le Tu fended off the late challenge of the Jamie Spencer-ridden Goldsmith in the previous race.

Also enjoying a double was Marco Ghiani, who struck aboard Nikki's Girl and Blue Flame for Ed Dunlop.

Results, replays and analysis

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