Osborne shines once more on Twilight Calls

The Rebel Racing purple patch continued as Twilight Calls pulled off a clever plot in the Coral Rewards Shaker Handicap at Goodwood, and the team’s momentum may yet continue further still.

Owner Phil Cunningham has had plenty to celebrate of late enjoying a successful spell capped by Zigazig Ah’s Super Sprint victory at Newbury earlier this month, with the winning owner-trainer-jockey combination then reconvening on the Sussex Downs.

Richard Spencer and Saffie Osborne are the other members of that trio, and Twilight Calls (6-1) ensured the ball kept rolling when prevailing by a head to take a valuable prize over five furlongs.

“I was quite sure we’d won but they were taking quite a long time to call it so you always have a seed of doubt,” said Osborne, who will now turn her attention to riding the winner in the Stewards’ Cup.

“He’s such a cool horse and a great plan from Richard to run him today in the hope of getting a penalty to get into the Stewards’ Cup, a race he ran so well in last year (when fifth).

“He was probably drawn on the wrong side of it last year, otherwise he would have been right there in the mix so onwards to Saturday hopefully.”

Cunningham, who was represented by five horses in the race, added: “I think Saffie is unbeaten on him this year. You lead with your chin when you’ve got five in a race and it’s come out well.

“We have a little lucky spot out in front of the big screen and I went and listened to the other lads start shouting this one, that one, that one and that one but when they were coming this side, I’m sure that was the better call.

“Saffie rode him as she did at Newmarket, she had him covered and fortunately the gaps stayed on the rail. I always wait until the photo is called (before celebrating).” Al Aali got the Qatar Goodwood Festival under way in ideal fashion for George Scott and William Buick by winning the Coral Chesterfield Cup Handicap for owners Victorious Forever.

The four-year-old got back to winning ways at Newmarket last time out, his first strike on British turf having previously spent time in both Dubai and France.

He was the 11-2 joint-favourite to follow up on the Downs and duly did so with a game three-quarters of a length victory with 16 rivals behind him.

“He’s a horse that came to us and it’s taken a little bit of time to get to know him, but when we got an inside draw it really seemed to suit him,” said Scott.

“William just crept away and kept improving his position and it was a good watch, it’s normally a disaster so that’s great!

“We were very grateful because we’ve had a couple of mishaps in the last few days so it was nice that this all went our way.

“He’s a horse that Sheikh Nasser (of Victorious Forever) actually picked himself at the Arc sale last year, we thought we’d slightly overpaid (€500,000) but he’s gone and taken a big step forward.”

Richard Hannon got on the scoreboard courtesy of Agrippa who landed the British Stallion Studs EBF Maiden Stakes at 11-1 under Pat Dobbs for owner Michael Pescod.

Hannon said: “We loved him when he went to Doncaster the first time, and then he ran extremely well at Newbury. The way he behaved today looked like we could probably leave him alone for a bit.

“This is good for Michael. He was my last yearling to sell, and Michael came in and said ‘I’ll have that Naval Crown’. I’m delighted that he’s been rewarded.”

“He’s had three runs in pretty quick succession. He is a good horse. There will be lots of nice races in the autumn for him. You know me, he won’t sit around for long!”

The Bolney English Wine Fillies’ Handicap then went the way of Roger Varian’s Rumba Numba a 17-2 chance under Jack Mitchell and the recipient of a nose verdict from Nanino Niyati

Varian said: “We’ve always half-hoped she’s a black type filly and I think she probably is, she’s twice a winner now at four and we’ll see what the handicapper does.

“She’ll have options in handicaps going forwards but I think at some point we’ll ask her the question, certainly at Listed level, and see if we can get some black type – she’s a lovely pedigree.”