Enrolling in Ascot’s win club is the aim

Jun 20 2008 by Chris Wright, Liverpool Daily Post

WINNING at Royal Ascot is nothing new to Martin Dwyer, but he knows you need to make the most your chances at Flat racing’s showpiece event.

TheLiverpool-born jockey intends to do that on Enroller in the Group Three Queens Vase this afternoon.

Dwyer has won five times at Royal Ascot since his first success in the King’s Stand Stakes aboard Dominica six years ago. So far this week his chances have been limited with few rides aboard fancied runners. He was third on Shabiba on Wednesday, but he is quietly confident that Enroller, trained by father-in-law Willie Muir, could go closer.

Dwyer, who will be 33 a week on Saturday, said: “He looks my best chance of getting a winner. Most of the rides I’ve had this week have been outsiders, so the writing has been on the wall for me. At Ascot you need to be on the right horses. Every-body wants to ride at least one winner each year, hopefully Enroller can be the one for me.”

He added: “He is a horse that is improving, he is on the upgrade and we hope the step up to two miles will help him.

“He looks like a staying type. The mile and a half is just enough for him, but he seems to crying out for further. We have had a drop of rain. Hopefully that will have helped the ground a bit. He can go on firm, but easier ground is ideal.”

Enroller has won two of three starts this term at Leicester and Newmarket. Dwyer has only ridden him once, to his maiden success. But it is the close second to Michael Jarvis’s All The Aces, whenRichie Mullen was on board, that represents his best form.

Jarvis’s colt was only beaten half a length in the Chester Vase by Doctor Fremantle, who went on to finish third in the Derby behind New Approach.

A strict reading of that means Muir’s Marju colt can himself take this step up to Group level.

Dwyer said: “We thought he would win at Leicester, but he got beat a short head by a horse of Michael Jarvis’s that went and ran second in a Group Three at Chester, and they were about 10 lengths clear of the pack in that race, so he has got the form.”

While it is still early his trainer has hinted that the Ladbrokes St Leger at Doncaster in September could be a viable target for Enroller.

Dwyer, who has won two Classics and was second aboard High Accolade in the Leger in 2003, said: “It is a big jump up to a Classic, so he would really have to prove himself tomorrow and in the next couple of races to show he is good enough to take his chance. But you never know with horses of that age.

“He is not there yet, but there is a lot of improvement in him. And if he continues to improve and won at Ascot, it is a possibility. But we need to take it one step at a time. But he has shown enough to think that he can get even better.”