Sondad given French aim after Listed breakthrough

A trip to France could be next for Sondad after Mick and David Easterby’s thriving stable star continued his good season at Redcar.

It was a fourth win in a campaign that has already seen big pots landed at Epsom on Derby day, on Irish soil at the Curragh and on home turf during York’s Ebor Festival.

The in-form five-year-old successfully stepped up to both seven furlongs and Listed level to claim Guisborough Stakes honours under ever-present jockey Joanna Mason.

He will now attempt to further climb the ladder at Chantilly later this month when going for Group Three gold in the Prix de Seine-Et-Oise, a race won last year by Karl Burke’s Spycatcher.

David Easterby said: “It was fantastic and Joanna did a sterling job.

“When you are stepping up in trip from six furlongs to seven furlongs and you look at your jockey and she is sat last you are thinking ‘I hope she has got this right’ and she did so I’m very pleased.

“It’s been an unbelievable journey that just keeps rolling and his next aim is Chantilly on October 26. It’s back down to six furlongs because there aren’t any seven furlong races I can find and hopefully the ground will be soft enough for us to run there.”

A run on Qatar Racing British Champions Day had been previously mooted by connections after success on the Knavesmire in the summer, but the decision has been made not to swim too deep this term with owner Gary Routledge’s pride-and-joy, who runs in the colours of Bradford City.

“When we won at York we had a discussion about Champions Day, but it was such a large supplement fee we decided not to do it,” continued Easterby. “The owner would let us do it if we wanted to, but we can run in races like that next year instead.”