Weather watch for Cover after Bullet win A trip to Irish Champions Weekend depends on the ground for veteran sprinter Take Cover after he got his season back on track with a fine front-running display in the totescoop6 Beverley Bullet. David Griffiths' stable stalwart may be in the twilight of his career at the age of 10, but proved the fire still burns brightly when landing the City Walls Stakes at York in July. After finishing a creditable fourth when aiming for a third victory in the King George Stakes at Glorious Goodwood, the veteran returned to the Knavesmire for the Nunthorpe just eight days ago, but trailed home last of 11 runners. Back at Listed level on the Westwood, he was the 3-1 favourite under Tom Queally and soon adopted his customary pacesetting role. Challengers queued up to have a pop at him racing inside the final furlong, but Take Cover dug deep to prevail by a length from Final Venture. The Wagon Wheel ran a remarkable race in third. The three-year-old looked likely to be tailed off after being badly outpaced early on, but was absolutely flying at the death and would have been second in another couple of strides. Griffiths said: "I said to Andrew Hollis (of owners Norcroft Park Stud) that I didn't think we should run because of the rain we had, so this is all down to him. "I thought good ground and a stiff five furlongs might find him out, so I'm absolutely chuffed to bits. "He was in (the stalls) too long at York so we waited and waited with him to go into the stalls and it worked out really well. "Tom said, 'I don't think I've ridden anything as quick'. "He's in the Flying Five at the Curragh next Sunday, but we came here because the ground in Ireland looks soft at the minute. "We haven't got a Group Two penalty this year and there are a lot of Listed races and Group Threes. "There's a race at Doncaster and there's a Group Three at Newbury, and then there's the Mercury Stakes, which he won two years ago, back at Dundalk. "To keep coming back like that, he's unbelievable."
