Bucanero Fuerte lands Listed prize on seasonal reappearance A winner on this card on his return to action last year, Bucanero Fuerte did likewise 12 months on, when dropping down to the minimum trip to land the Listed Sole Power Sprint Stakes at Naas. The Adrian Murray trained colt won on his racecourse debut over 5f but was stepped up in trip immediately after that introduction. Third in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot, he subsequently won the Railway Stakes and Group 1 Phoenix Stakes. Having disappointed when upped to 7f for the National Stakes at the Curragh, Bucanero Fuerte was put away for a three-year-old campaign. However, following an impressive return at this corresponding meeting last year, he failed to win in three starts all in Group 1 company. Pitched into a Listed race here, the son of Wootton Bassett was always prominent before heading Gutsy Girl inside the final furlong, staying on strongly to win by one-and-three-quarter lengths from the fast-finishing Powerful Nation. “It was great for us to see him coming back but I suppose from a breeding point of view it was disappointing,” said Murray. “He’s really showed up today, we were on a fact finding mission today to see whether he was going to train on and sure he was brilliant. “He’s only back six or eight weeks with us and you’d never think he was away at stud. He’s so cool and calm, we even said to David going out ‘just wake him up a little bit’ because he’s so relaxed. “He finished out the race well, he galloped right to the line. They kind of caught him up a little bit a furlong out and then he kicked on again. He put plenty of daylight between them. “Today was just to see how things would go. There is a race in Cork in three weeks time and he’ll be entered for the Nunthorpe. He’s in not in Ascot. “We’ll see after a couple of days how he comes out of the race and then make a plan from there.” Additional reporting by Gary Carson.
