North Yorkshire-based trainer Gemma Tutty enjoyed a first success at Epsom Downs with her very first runner at the course when Blue Storm (8-1) came home the three-quarter length winner of the Betfred 3YO ‘Dash’ over five furlongs on Derby Day.
Gemma Tutty told ITV Racing: “I’m on cloud nine. I knew he was fast, we like him a lot, but obviously you need everything to go right here. That’s the horse we thought he was. On route to Ascot, we were just hoping for a good run, but to win on the way there is unbelievable.”
On her great season so far, she said: “I can’t complain at all, it’s a brilliant team effort from everyone at home, and owners old and new. Mr Lowe (owner) put faith in me in my first season of training, so it’s lovely to reward him with a good success here today.
“I called him and said, ‘I’ve got a very fast all-weather horse for you’, and he said, ‘Right, I’m in!’ We were third, then we won, then we went up to 88 [rating], and there were absolutely no races on the all-weather. So I said, ‘Sorry Dave, we are going to have to wait for the Turf now – not so much an all-weather sprinter anymore!’ He’s proven that he can do it on both now.”
Rossa Ryan, the winning rider, said: "I knew they'd go flat out, which I thought would suit him, and I just needed to get him to do it the right way, as he can get himself a bit disorganised. I knew he had a turn of foot, as he showed it in the winter when I rode him at Southwell.
"He did exactly what it said on the tin. Oisin (on runner-up Sturlasson) went in and gave me chance to switch out and get one clean swoop. He did enough, and he still felt as if there was plenty there, so I know that going to Royal Ascot there should be plenty more to come.
"He's quite progressive, and he's a very genuine, honest sprinter who always runs consistently. He handled the track very well. Once I took him back from the gates he got into a rhythm and I was just gliding and waiting to pick up the pieces. I'd imagine that on a big open track like Ascot I'd be even more patient on him."
Oisin Murphy, rider of runner-up Sturlasson, said: “Great run. Rossa… we pulled well clear, and it was a career best.”
Kieran Cotter, trainer of Sturlasson, added: “It was his first time in a handicap, and normally they’d say they need a run in a handicap because it is a different type of sprinting, but he did fantastically well. He won his maiden in Navan, and the thing we were happy with it that the first few furlongs there are a bit undulating and downhill, so he might have had a bit of experience there for this. We’re thrilled with him. So near, yet so far. But to come here on Derby Day…
“Oisin said the three-year-old handicap sprint at Royal Ascot is made for him - that’s where he said he’d do, so all things being well, we will. When he first ran in a maiden he was second to Bucanere Fuertw, who is favourite for the Commonwealth Cup, so we knew he was pretty useful.”
