Wet gallops no bar to success for Johnson Houghton's Key Player

Eve Johnson Houghton reckons her team is a bit behind where it would usually be for the start of April, but that didn’t stop Key Player beating two much shorter-priced Newmarket-trained rivals in what looked a fair novice, and landing a few bets in the process.

The Kheleyf gelding, backed from 12-1 in the morning down to 7-1, had been off the track for four months, but he was soon in front and held on well up the straight, scoring by half a length from odds-on favourite Ostilio.

Johnson Houghton was “absolutely thrilled” and said: “I wanted to run him in a handicap, but he seems to like Lingfield as he’d been second here twice, and he wouldn’t be great on soft ground. He was ready to run, although I think he’ll come on, and so we took a chance.