King’s Charter rules for Buick and Appleby

Charlie Appleby and William Buick picked up where they left off on day two of the July Festival at Newmarket, with King’s Charter swooping late to land the £100,000 Bet365 Handicap.

Following a Thursday treble for the Moulton Paddocks team that featured Buick’s 2,000th winner in Britain, King’s Charter was the 9-4 favourite for Friday’s curtain-raiser, having opened his account at the third attempt on his first start as a three-year-old at Doncaster last month.

Charlie Johnston’s Marhaba Ghaiyyath kicked for home a long way out and proved a tough adversary, but Buick timed his challenge to perfection aboard King’s Charter, who just proved speedier in the finish and passed the post with three-quarters of a length in hand.

Appleby said: “We felt the step up to 10 furlongs would hopefully see a bit of improvement, which was going to be needed at a meeting like this, and he’s duly obliged with that.

“I’d probably say he’s still a handicapping type at the moment. We’ll see what the handicapper does and see where he lines up with (going to) Meydan.

“It’s that time of year – from July onwards we start to put our team together for Meydan. Whether he’s a horse that fits that bill, we’ll see.

“Is he a Group horse? Probably not really, but he’s a nice handicapper.”