York
Sun 10 Sep
1:40pm
Ire Incentive, It Pays To Buy Irish EBF Novice Stakes (GBB/IRE Incentive Race)
(Class 2) (2yo) 6f Good
7 Ran
1st £15,462 2nd £7,251 3rd £3,627 4th £1,812 5th £906 6th £453
Finished 1st
Jockey
P J McDonald
After The Race on the way to the
Winners Enclosure
Winning Jockey
P J McDonald
Race Debrief
MON 11 SEP 2023
WINNER 83 OF 2023: THE COFFEE POD, trained by Richard Hannon and ridden by
PJ MDonald: The £30k Class 2 'Ire Incentive, It Pays to Buy Irish EBF Novice Stakes' over 6f at York.
The son of Acclamation, was having his third start, after taking a very close 3rd in the Ripon Hornblower Novice last time out (by a shd and a shd!)
Drawn towards the stands side, he broke well and along with our other runner, Ziggy's Condor, they travelled alone on the near side, with The Coffee Pod in front. Still travelling on the bridle, as others were being asked to quicken, PJ pushed him along coming to the final furlong. He kept on well and was always doing enough inside the final furlong, to win by a length.
"The Hornblower 3rd, goes two places better today."
Timeform rated it as an 89+ performance, saying: "Looked the pick on form and duly made it third time lucky; led, shaken up over 1f out, in command final 1f, ridden out; he's made a really bright start and looks a useful performer in the making.”
PJ told us after the race: "He's very straigh forward, I just let him jump and do his own thing. He's won as he likes and hopefully he will keep progressing.”
Syndicate manager Tim says: "It's nice when a plan comes together! He is a good stamp of a horse and still has some filling out to do so taking a race like this as a 2yo is a good start. The Hornblower form has worked out well and we had this race in mind since then. We will see what the handicapper does and take it from there, but it also looks like he could appeciate a bit further too. Congratulations to his syndicate on a decent payday - as you can see below! He cost 50,000gns at The Craven Breeze Ups in April, so he has virtually paid for himself in one fell swoop and it’s fair to say he’s already worth more than we paid for him."
Coffee hits the spot
The Coffee Pod gave his connections a healthy payday when landing the opening 6f novice contest.
The Richard Hannon-trained juvenile lost his maiden tag at the third attempt by a length, scooping the £15,462 first prize and some lucrative bonuses for his owners Middleham Park Racing.
The syndicate's racing director Tim Palin said: "We bought him at the Craven Breeze-Up for £50,000 and he was running for over £15,000 in first-place prize-money today. He also got a £15,000 Craven bonus and a €10,000 Irish Incentive voucher, so he's nearly paid for himself.
"He was third in the Ripon Hornblower last time to some good horses, and we thought this would suit him. Richard says he wants a mile eventually, so we might step him up next time. We've got the job done and hopefully can go on from here."
The form of the Ripon Hornblower was boosted again when the runner-up, Tropical Island, won the 6f nursery.
