Spencer waste little time in double delight at York
By Racing TV
Last Updated: Thu 14 May 2026
Jamie Spencer enjoyed a quickfire double on York’s Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Dante day at York, taking the first two races on the card, both in the colours of Fitri Hay.
Richard Hannon’s Persian Spring was the 7-2 joint-favourite for the Sky Bet EBFstallions.com Novice Stakes, in which Spencer had the colt up with the pace in the early stages before switching left to the favoured far side to make a strong run two furlongs out, keeping on well to win by a length from Ranting Duke.
The son of Persian Force is a half-brother to four-time winner Darwell Lion and was a five-length fifth behind Napa on his racecourse debut at Newmarket over five furlongs.
His racecourse experience proved beneficial and the extra furlong was no issue, responding well to Spencer in the closing stages of the race and looking to have further improvement in the tank.
“It was a good experience for him,” said Spencer. “The draw was a little bit tricky, and I tried to edge over to the far rail based on yesterday’s results, and luckily enough I managed to get across and not do too much.
“He’s a fast horse, six (furlongs) is as far as he’s going to want. I don’t think going back to five would be a problem, he’s got a lot of speed. We will see what Richard and the team want to do.”
Spencer’s second winner was this time trained by Robert Cowell in the shape of Jakajaro who took the Lindum York Stakes in impressive style, beating Heavenly Heather by two and a quarter lengths.
In a race which saw the 21-runner field separate across the track, Jakajaro broke out of an arguably unfavourable stall 18 and headed the smaller of the two groups down the near side of the track and but defied the track bias when kicking clear inside the final furlong to achieve a comfortable success.
Veteran York specialist Copper Knight came here hoping to add to his record-breaking seven successes at the course, but finished 18th of the 21 runners.
Jakajaro (14-1) had won his sole start this season when readily beating Dyonisos at Newmarket last month. Though he looked to face a much tougher task here, the Too Darn Hot gelding made light work of a competitive field.
“I didn’t expect him to lead this field in such a high-quality race, but he’s just getting better and just getting faster,” Cowell said.
“He’s just a big ball of muscle. He had talent already when he was in Ireland and he contested some pretty snazzy races last year and this year he’s just a different horse altogether. I don’t know why, maybe it’s just a year older and we know a little more about him.
“We have to go up to stakes company now, he’s earned it. He’s in the King Charles III and the Temple Stakes as well. He could quite easily go to something like that, but he does need a little bit of juice in the ground.”
The Oakmere Homes Hambleton Stakes was delayed when Charlie Hills’ Galeron reared over on leaving the paddock and managed to get stuck in a hedge under a rail. He needed to be sedated for a short spell before he could be moved
He was due to be ridden by Jack Callan, who said: “He’s walked away thankfully. It was just a freak accident. He got a little agitated and just sort of flipped over.
“The main thing is there’s another day for him. While it was a soft landing for him it also meant he was stuck in the same place for longer than you would have liked, but he’s up which is the main thing.”
The race was won by Ralph Beckett’s Maybe Not (18-1) under Saffie Osborne who had her mount settled in last of the field in a quickly-run race before keeping on well down the centre of the track to beat Cerulean Bay by a neck.
The Pinatubo filly arrived without a run this season but she won three races in her three-year-old career and looks to have developed over the winter as she benefited from the fast early pace.
Winning off an official mark of 86, connections can look forward to her contesting more valuable handicaps and a trip to Royal Ascot.
“Round the bend they were doing 11 and a half second furlongs, it’s a long way home when you do that on this ground,” Beckett said.
“She is a tough filly and has always been a bit of a frame so I have always thought she’d do well from three to four so it looks like we might be in luck.
“She’ll probably go to the Kensington Palace Stakes now and she will stay in training as she is owned by her breeders, so we’ve got to try to get some black type.”
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