Nellie Leylax wins ‘home’ for the Scouse owners in the Silver Bowl at Haydock Park

Named after some of the Scouse nan owners, Nellie Leylax (9-2 favourite) scored a superb run in the top of the Betfred Silver Bowl Handicap at Haydock Park to book a potential trip to Royal Ascot next month.

The Tom Dascombe-trained three-year-old is owned by the Millennial Racing syndicate which includes several members of the Burkert family, who hail from Kirkby. And named after their late grandmother, Nellie Leyland, the winning son of Calyx was winning for the second time at Haydock. He was sent forward by jockey Pierre-Louis Jamin, who paired him with a fifth success from just seven races, and they dominated the mile contest. Nellie Leylax looked like the winner by a long shot. They went two furlongs from home and scored easily by a length and a half from Implication (7-1), with Apiarist (22-1) four lengths back in third.

The Silver Bowl has been a Royal Ascot milestone for many horses over the years. And Connections could eye a crack at the Britannia Stakes in Berkshire next month – although with Nellie Leylax relishing the milder conditions, the owners have suggested she could bypass the Royal meeting and head to another local track, Chester, next July.

Several members of the Burkert family, who own Nellie Leylax, loudly cheered their pride and joy from the stands. And Stephen Burkett, from Kirkby, said: “It’s unbelievable. It’s just an incredible (win). The back story is just magic. It’s unreal. We got into it as a bit of a laugh, a bit of fun with the family and other people and it just made £110,000 in a year. You can’t write Pierre, who is ridden by Arthur (Owen, assistant trainer Dascombe) is a good friend of ours and thank God he got us involved and then obviously Tom (Dascombe) and you can’t ask for more. “

Regarding the name of their horse, he added: “Me, Gary and Ian, who are here today and Stephen and Craig, who are not here, our little girl’s name is Nellie Leyland and although she died many years ago, family just love racing. And I always said that if we ever had a chance to say it after me. We never thought of that So, being a Calyx horse and my daughter being Nellie Leyland, we thought Nellie Leylax would keep a bit of that theme. I’ve lost three uncles and an aunt in the last few years my uncle Ronnie and five of the girls still alive so this is for them up here and up there.”

Dascombe’s assistant Owen has indicated that Britannia at Royal Ascot could be an option if the ground is soft enough.

And winning jockey Jamin said: “The only time I was beaten on him was when the ground wasn’t soft enough for him. He was a great horse for the owners, the first horse they have ever bought and he was impressive today, the conditions were perfect for him, however, there could be more to come, certainly on softer ground, Tom was great for me the last two years we’ve had a good winner at Chester and it’s nice to get another big one.