Rejuvenated Hodgson hails yard's flying form and the power of a good 'back man'

Simon Hodgson welcomed back his tenth winner since his return to the training ranks last July, as Total Commitment scored under Joey Haynes.

A 200,000 guineas purchase out of Roger Charlton's yard back in 2019, Total Commitment was Hodgson's fourth winner from eight runners on the Flat since the turn of the year.

"He had a bit of a problem which was just stopping him finishing off his races but we couldn't find anything," said Hodgson. "I have a brilliant 'back man', Gerry Gracie, who found his shoulder was just slightly out and six weeks after his treatment, the horse went and won at Kempton.

"He comes in four days before a race now just to give him a once over and he's not run a bad race since, he's been absolutely super."

Cardano too good

Cardano was given a typically no-nonsense ride from Richard Kingscote to land the opening 1m4f handicap backing up his course success at the start of January.

Richard Kingscote: on target with CardanoCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Cardano looked in danger of being swamped approaching the two furlong market but responded well to Kingscote's urgings and pulled out plenty more on levelling up.

Smart Silent Film

The Charlie Appleby-trained Silent Film briefly had to be ridden along from a wide draw but ultimately made light work of his rivals in the three-year-old novice stakes under Adam Kirby.

In getting off the mark at the second attempt the gelded son of New Approach paid a compliment to stablemate Highland Avenue, who was five and a half lengths too good for him at Kempton last month.

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