Kevin Ryan appears to have a very smart sprinter on his hands in the shape of Royal Ascot winner Bapak Chinta who made it two wins from two outings when cosily accounting for some talented opposition in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes on Thursday and who could next be seen taking on the cream of international sprinters in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes at York’s Ebor meeting in August, writes Elliot Slater.
Connections have always held the son of Speightstown in high regard and word was out before his racecourse bow at Hamilton last month that Ryan’s could be a little bit special. Everything went to script at the Scottish track as Bapak Chinta proved far too good for another debutant Frederick Engels, and when that horse came with a flying run to land the Windsor Castle Stakes on Tuesday the form could not have looked any better. Those looking at the York Ebor betting should remember this.
Despite such a boost to the Hamilton form Bapak Chinta drifted alarmingly in the betting on the morning of the big race before being shortened up to 6/1 at the off, but was always in command, racing up with the pace before taking a definite advantage at halfway, then only having to be pushed out by Philip Makin in the closing stages to score comfortably from Boomerang Bob and Crown Dependency.
Ryan’s immediate plans suggest that he will throw his juvenile in at the deep end at York against some of the fastest older horses in the world, but the Nunthorpe Stakes has proved a fairly happy hunting ground for the few two-year-old’s that have taken up the challenge over the years, with the significant weight concession they receive playing in their favour and resulting in victories for the likes of Lyric Fantasy (1992) and Kingsgate Native (2007).
