Moore in front again as Papal Bull strikes

Jul 13 2007 by Chris Wright, Liverpool Daily Post

JOCKEY Ryan Moore again partnered a big race winner for trainer Sir Michael Stoute when scoring on the quirky Papal Bull in the Princess Of Wales’s WBX.COM Stakes at Newmarket yesterday.

The champion jockey engineered a superb tactical victory on Stoute’s Notnowcato in the Coral-Eclipse at the weekend and he continued his sparkling form when winning the Group Two contest at Headquarters.

The four-year-old son on Montjeu can be frustrating at times, but was an excellent winner of the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot last year. He has failed to win since, but despite getting behind yesterday and drifting left in the final furlong, the 11-1 shot scored by two and a half lengths from dead-heaters, Laverock (12-1) and the Martin Dwyer-ridden Shahin (25-1).

Moore said: “They went pretty quick and I was never travelling that well but once I started passing horses, he started to pick up.

“From halfway he started enjoying it; he started to take me beautifully into the race.

“He’s a very high-class horse and when things fall his way, he is up there with the best. Things haven’t really dropped right for him recently but the mile and a half on fast ground suited him. He is quirky but he does have ability and he is up to Group One level if everything goes his way.”