The Strikin Viking lives up to his name at York
THE Strikin Viking lived up to his name with a stunning start to his racecourse career at
York.
Named in honour of Manchester City hotshot Erling Haaland by owners Middleham Park Racing, the Kevin Ryan-trained youngster broke sharply in the Reg Griffin Appreciation ebfstallions.com Maiden Stakes over six furlongs on the Knavesmire.
Always bowling along powerfully from there under Tom Eaves, the further he went, the better he looked, with the 8-1 chance ultimately striding right away from the field to score by an emphatic two and three-quarter lengths over Tiger Mask.
The victory came as no surprise to his trainer, who said: “He’s been very good from the day we’ve had him. I told Tim (Palin, syndicate manager) a while ago that I thought he was a very good horse and I think that’s why they put the name to him, as the boys are very passionate about Manchester City.
“I didn’t hide the fact how much I liked him to the syndicate today.
They have to go and do it on a racecourse, but I think he’s a very smart horse. He’s done what he had to do today and I’ll speak to Tim next week. You might see him back here in August (for the Gimcrack Stakes), but we’ll be doing something beforehand.”
Tom Palin, who like his father is an avid Manchester City supporter, added: “He shoots, he scores, I guess!
“There’s a lot been made about our Manchester City names and we tend to save them for horses that we think have got a bit of ability. I didn’t realise he possessed quite that much, but we’ve never had a bad word from Kevin about him, he’s done nothing but please the team at home.
“When you come to the Knavesmire on debut, there’s a lot of things that can go wrong, you normally bump into nice horses here and they invariably work out well these maidens.
“Tom (Eaves) said it was tough to fault anything he did in the race. He came out of the stalls great, took him there on the bridle and was a total professional. You’d hope there’s more to come.”
Considering future plans, Palin said: “We’ve not sat down and talked about where we’re going to go, obviously Royal Ascot is next week, so that’s going to come far too soon for him.
“But there’s plenty of other options - the July meeting (at Newmarket) and things like that, but we’ll have a discussion with Kevin and see where we go.”
Klondike benefited from a powerpacked Ryan Moore ride to secure top honours in the Sky Bet Race To The Ebor Grand Cup at York on Saturday. Unraced as a juvenile, the son of Galileo was a narrow winner on his three-year-old debut at Newbury last season before running with credit in both the Cocked Hat Stakes at Goodwood and Newmarket’s Bahrain Trophy.
A disappointing effort in the Geoffrey Freer on his final outing of 2023 led to him being gelded during the off-season, and having made an encouraging return in handicap company at York’s Dante meeting last month, he was the 3-1 co-favourite of three on his return to the Knavesmire for this Listed event.
Moore was in no mood to hang around, sending Klondike straight to the front on what was his first start over a mile and three-quarters and committing for home halfway up long straight.
Salt Bay emerged as the biggest threat to the William Haggas-trained leader and a late lunge meant it was tight at the line, but Klondike stuck to his guns to hold on by a short head.
The winner is now guaranteed a starting berth in the £500,000 Sky Bet Ebor over the same course and distance on August 24.
“That was a very nice performance, happy with that,” said Haggas’ assistant Issy Paul. “He made Ryan work for it a little bit, but he was in front quite a long way out and the ground is maybe a little bit sticky for him as well.”
Elsewhere, determined filly Adaay In Devon again showed great heart to cling on for victory in the Listedclass BetMGM: It’s Showtime Scurry Stakes over five furlongs at Sandown.
Rod Millman’s well-backed 11-8 favourite took up a customary prominent position early on under Silvestre de Sousa on Saturday but it was clear from halfway that she was going to have to work hard for victory. However, the three-year-old first saw off the challenge of the free-running Nighteyes and then the line came just in time for her to shade Flora Of Bermuda by a head.
That made it seven wins from 15 starts for Adaay In Devon, who has also been a runner-up on four occasions, including when second to Jasour in a Commonwealth Cup trial at Ascot last month.
That was over six furlongs, along with her most recent outing, when third behind Elite Status in the Carnarvon Stakes at Newbury, and De Sousa was always confident his mount would dig deep in the closing stages at this trip.
He told Racing TV: “She’s very genuine and she gets further than five, even a stiff five. The problem was we were probably on the worst part of the ground on the inside, that’s not the place you want to be when it’s raining like that.”