Astronereus shocks Eagle Top Astronereus ran out a surprise winner of the Al Rayyan Stakes at Newbury. The Group Three contest - better known as the Aston Park - attracted a field of five runners, with the high-class Eagle Top taking top billing on his return to action for the in-form combination of trainer John Gosden and jockey Frankie Dettori. Making his first start since finishing down the field in last season's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, the full-brother to Thursday's Dante hero Wings Of Desire was the 4-6 favourite and was settled at the rear of the field for much of the mile-and-a-half journey. The market leader was angled wide to mount his challenge in the straight, but found disappointingly little and passed the post a well-beaten fourth. Meanwhile, on the other side of the track, the front-running Carnachy did his best to repel all-comers, but was first claimed by Ayrad before Astronereus squeezed between the pair to take the lead. Amanda Perrett's 14-1 winner passed the post with a length and a quarter in hand, with Ayrad a clear second. Winning jockey Pat Dobbs said: "His form has been very good, but he had problems at the back end of last year. Amanda and the team have done a good job getting him back. "He wants fast ground, but he's a little bit fragile in his joints and knees. "Amanda had him fit and on that type of ground you need to be 100 per cent fit. There's plenty of options. "It's a little bit slow, but it's not bad ground." Perrett said: "Obviously he had it all to do on the book, but he was a progressive horse last year. "He got very jarred up in the Ebor and we had no option but to back off him and leave him alone. That's why we didn't run him at Ascot last week. "We were hoping he would run well, but realistically we were looking at later races for him. To win today was fantastic. "He'll probably step up a bit in trip, but I doubt he'll go for the Gold Cup. He may run in the Henry II Stakes at Sandown, or we might go to France. "The owner loves the Goodwood Cup, having run Tungsten Strike in it, and that's our main target." Gosden said of Eagle Top: "He'd had a long time off and I'm perfectly happy with the horse. "He came there full of himself and just blew up inside the final furlong and the jockey was intelligent enough to know that. "He's full of exuberance afterwards. We just needed to get a race into him before the Hardwicke (at Royal Ascot)."
