Tiber Flow wins the John Of Gaunt Stakes at Haydock Park

Tiber Flow (6-1) bounced back under Tom Marquand to win the Betfred John Of Gaunt Stakes at Haydock Park on Saturday afternoon.

William Haggas’ five-year-old had a painful day at the York races last month. The gelding and jockey Marquand had a crushing fall after being tripped up in the Duke of York Stakes at Knavesmire. But thankfully there was no lasting damage and after returning to work he took an excellent win under Marquand to win his third Group Three of eight races on Merseyside.

Marquand came from a side position at Haydock early to be close behind as Quinault raced. As the lead weakened, TIber Flow fought off his rivals to take the lead and score within a length of Sirona (12-1), with Pogo (11-2) still half a length back in third .

Winning jockey Marquand said: “Obviously when I took him home after York he looked good but you never know how a fall would have affected him. He’s a tough little fighter, everyone was happy with him, that’s why he’s here today. , but it was a bit of a fact-finding mission, because as good as it looked at home, you just don’t know.

“He hasn’t run over seven furlongs for a while so I got him back from a terrible draw and actually the race worked out nicely. They went fast but coming in the middle made it easier rather than having to go out. He seemed to really enjoy this and it’s fantastic to see him at his best again. trip – also, rounding a curve gave him something else to think about.

“He’s been strong on the line and seven furlongs is well within his endurance. Until today the Chipchase at Newcastle was a possible option, but if that changes now, he’s seen seven so well, I don’t know. Plans can change a lot much. quickly.”

Maureen Haggas, wife and assistant coach, added: “It’s tough. Tom said he came across a few. He is a bruiser. Although he felt good mentally, he longed for York. And our physiotherapy and milling team, good job.

“He was healthy but we have a top class physio team. And Gayle, who takes care of all the horses, said they all hurt on one side. So if that was the part that hit the ground first and it bounced too. he did three rather dramatic covers which looked worse because he was going so fast at the time so they did a lot of work on him and he wasn’t ridden for about 10 days to get all the pain out that’s the great thing about the mill with wires, you can hold them, but without weight on your back.

“You can maintain your fitness, but it’s easier for them. They worked hard on him and although they didn’t have much to do with him vet-wise he seemed fine and I would imagine just sore muscles and bruises. And then Chris who rides him all the time came back on him and she was happy with him. He is strong mentally and obviously physically too, he worked the other day and when he worked well.

“Looking at him, he didn’t miss a beat. We were all shocked after the race, because it was really dramatic. I took him back to the stables to see the horse immediately after the race and he was happy, being washed. and it was like, ‘What’s the fuss about he ate everything and didn’t seem to miss a beat, which was quite strange as it was quite a dramatic fall.

On future plans, she said: “We will be talking to Wiliam, John and Julian to work out where it goes next. I thought the pitch might be a little fast for him. But he’s a tough horse and he’s probably better now and he’s riding easier today.

“There’s probably nothing at (Royal) Ascot for him. Maybe Wokingham (Handicap) but there’s probably nothing there. He ran a good race there but we’ll sort it out. Maybe avoiding Ascot could be a good thing .”

Clive Cox’s Pedro Valentino (13-2) under Richard Kingscote won the Betfred Supports Jack Berry House Handicap beating Tourist (14-1) by a length and a quarter with Jonny Concrete (18-1 ) another length-and-a-half back in third.