Fractious Lord Ashton finally delivers
AFTER finishing in fifth place by 5 ¼ lengths behind JamalJames in the Steward’s Cup over 5 furlongs (1,000m) round on December 30, 2017, Lord Ashton was expected to improve and go on to better things but instead, the chestnut gelding failed to deliver.
Bred by the late Dr Glanville Ashton, Lord Ashton managed only one win from 10 starts last season and that win was a maiden special weight event over 6 ½ furlongs (1,300m) on August 4. He won by 2 lengths in a time of 1:22.2 and even after that Lord Ashton failed to carry on.
However, with his first run this season, Lord Ashton showed an indication of his potential.
Ridden by Dane Nelson, Lord Ashton came from far behind to beat rivals by ¾ length going away in a Restricted Allowance event over 6 furlongs (1,200m). Lord Ashton won in an impressive time of 1:13.4 after splits of 22.3 and 46.1.
Lord Ashton was not that well out of the starting gates and raced somewhat off the leaders among the backmarkers early in the race. Golden Destiny (Raddesh Roman) led ahead of Young Boy Eddy (Javaniel Patterson) and Nuclear Dan Dada (Shane Ellis).
Young Boy Eddy joined Golden Destiny on the front end and both horses hooked up in battle coming into the lane, and still at that time Lord Ashton was yet to be released by Nelson.
When Golden Destiny finally got rid of Young Boy Eddy inside the furlong pole, that was when Nelson sounded the alarm, and in a flash, Lord Ashton blasted past rivals and went on to win easily.
Lala Diva (Christopher Mamdeen) made a late run for second money with Golden Destiny holding on to be third.
Trainer Spencer Chung said his charge is yet to give his best as he has not settled down.
“The performance was good. It [the win] was long overdue because he ( Lord Ashton) has had some setbacks and he is a crazy horse as well. Lord Ashton is very fractious, the last time he turned over in the starting gates and had to be scratched.
“He got a lot of setbacks but once he puts his energy into racing, he will be alright. We can only hope that he settles down, he is just an average horse right now,” Chung said.
