Lightning Strikes for a fourth time

Lightning Spear took his unbeaten record to four when landing a mile handicap in good style, beating nine rivals and gaining some compensation for trainer Olly Stevens after the horse missed the cut for last week's Royal Hunt Cup.

Quoted in today's Racing Post, Stevens says: "We´ve got a variety of options for Lightning Spear. He´s in a Listed race on Saturday, but I wouldn´t have thought we´d rush him back. We´ll discuss things with the owners, but it´s hard to change things when you keep winning. However, he has the speed for 7f and the class for 1m2f so he´s in two big handicaps over those trips - the Bunbury Cup and John Smith´s Cup. It was a shame he didn´t make the Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot, and while we might be forced to go for something higher later in the year, a handicap is the next logical step."

Oisin Murphy rode Lightning Spear, and had earlier partnered Simple Verse, who ran in the colours of Qatar Racing, Sheikh Suhaim and Mohammed Al Kubaisi. The three-year-old filly landed one of Salisbury's best-known races, the Bibury Cup, for trainer Ralph Beckett.

Defying ground which would have been a shade quicker than ideal, Simple Verse was ridden prominently, led but was passed inside the final furlong, then rallied to regain the lead for a narrow victory.

Meanwhile, at Chantilly in France, Lady Dragon gained black type when third in a Listed race for trainer Mikel Delzangles. The four-year-old had won her previous three races, and yesterday she was beaten just three-quarters of a length and the same in a ten-runner field.