Penitent scores for Hanagan at Hamilton

A YEAR after winning the Lincoln, William Haggas’s Penitent gained a deserved return to the winner’s enclosure with a gutsy display in the EBF “Proclamation” Conditions Stakes under Paul Hanagan at Hamilton.

Soon bowling along at the head of affairs in the rain- softened ground, the 13-8 chance led his two rivals into the straight. Odds-on favourite Secrecy threw down a challenge to Hanagan’s mount, but Penitent would not be denied, holding on by a neck. Secrecy’s rider Ted Durcan suffered a further blow as he was given a seven-day suspension (10-16 October) for using his whip with excessive frequency, a ban which rules him out of ‘Champions Day’ at Ascot.

Hanagan said: “He’s such a genuine horse and I think he deserved to get his head in front. He loved the ground but saying that, it was very tiring at the finish. It was hard work for both horses. My horse was hanging a bit to his right but he was sticking his head out and I always felt he was going to hold on.”

Success in the feature event was the second leg of a double for the champion jockey, having earlier guided Richard Fahey’s Kimbali (11-4) to a similarly tenacious success in the nursery.

Silvestre de Sousa guided 11-4 favourite Smart Step to a ready success in the Neilsland and Earnock Handicap, Desert Icon (5-2 favourite) just managed to hold on to victory in the Overton Farm Shop Classified Claiming Stakes and there was further joy for favourite backers and course regulars as 9-4 chance Botham recorded his seventh victory at the track in the Hamilton Park Apprentice Series Final Handicap under Jason Hart.