Bellum Justum appears to have earned himself a place on Andrew Balding’s Royal Ascot squad after wearing down odds-on favourite Silver Knott in the Betfred Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket.
The globetrotting Silver Knott was a well-supported 10-11 shot for his first start in Britain since finishing down the field in the 2000 Guineas two years ago – and he looked likely to prevail after taking over the lead from the pacesetting Divina Grace heading towards the final two furlongs.
However, Andrew Balding’s Bellum Justum (11-2) – a Group Three winner in America last year and fitted with cheekpieces for the first time after being well beaten on his Newbury comeback last month – managed to stay on Silver Knott’s tail racing out of the dip and finished the stronger to score by a length and a half under Oisin Murphy.
Balding said: “He’s a high-class horse, he’s got some good form from last year and obviously the second is a very good horse as well.
“I was delighted, because he’d been a big disappointment in the John Porter (at Newbury). He definitely needed the run that day and he’s taken a big step forward today. It’s nice to see him back on track.
“I think the cheekpieces helped – I think he was pretty solid at the end of the race. It was an excellent performance.
“We’ll wait for the Hardwicke (at Royal Ascot), I would have thought. He’s had a hard enough race there and it would be nice to have runners with a chance for King Power (owners) at the Royal meeting.
“We’ll give it a go and we’ve always got the option to travel later in the year if we want to.”