The final World Pool day of the 2024 York Ebor Festival had a lot to live up to after what had come before on days one and two.
City Of Troy’s sensational Juddmonte romp on the Wednesday and Content’s gritty Yorkshire Oaks victory on the Thursday had treated racing fans to some special racing moments.
The stage was set, then, for the final Group One of the meeting, the Nunthorpe Stakes, with the best sprinters facing off over the fast 1000m.
It’s fair to say that the best sprinters are rarely relaxed, calm characters on the racecourse. They’re trained to run as fast as possible over the minimum trips, so they can be forgiven for any fiery pre-race antics.
This was very much the case for BRADSELL, who was so charged that as soon as Hollie Doyle threw her leg over him, he immediately broke into stride in the parade ring, throwing his groom Karen Peippo to the ground in the process.
Now back under control and brought down to the start, he broke perfectly from the stalls, took a lead off the turf-scorching Ponntos, and powered to a second Group One victory, giving Hollie Doyle her 10th top level success on one of the world’s biggest stages in the process.
The pre-race drama, followed by the stellar performance, marked Archie Watson’s colt as a worthy winner of the £4,000 World Pool Moment of the Day.
Reflecting on a whirlwind afternoon, Peippo, who thankfully came away from the incident with just a few grazes in the incident, said: “I’m delighted! It’s been a great day and it’s so great to see him (Bradsell) winning like that. He was absolutely rapid today.
“He’s lovely to look after at home, and he’s actually very different at home, he’s very quiet and chilled out whereas here he just gets a little bit on his toes. In the parade ring he took off forwards and was very strong and fresh today, but it was all worth it!”
Peippo can now dream of more days in the sun with Bradsell, who now enters the World Pool Moment of the Year competition for the chance to win a VIP trip to Hong Kong next year.
BRADSELL’s groom, Karen Peippo, who has a few grazes after taking a fall with her horse in the prelims, takes the £4,000 World Pool Moment of the Day prize.