By Tom Frary
Simon Sadler's TBT Racing was in the number one spot at Royal Ascot for the first time on Saturday as Noble Champion (Lope De Vega) dominated the G3 Jersey Stakes. Highly-regarded by Ed Walker, the half-brother to seven-furlong specialist Pogo had proved frustrating in three starts this term but not here as he came home alone under Kieran Shoemark.
Always travelling easily tracking Godolphin's Spy Chief (Kingman) up the centre, the 25-1 shot swooped approaching the furlong pole and despite veering left from there recorded an emphatic 3 1/4-length success from that 20-1 shot, with another 2 3/4 lengths back to the 11-4 favourite Comanche Brave (Wootton Bassett) in third.
“He's driven me mad! He's so talented and it's remarkable that he's come back from those disappointing runs,” Walker said. “I thought he was one of the best horses we've had at home and we felt if it didn't work today it would be back to the drawing board. Simon Sadler has recently come into the game. He is an incredibly generous guy and says he wants to take the stable to the next level. He is giving all of his prizemoney from Ascot to a pancreatic and liver charity. He is a great man and we're very lucky to have him on board. It means a lot, as I lost my father to pancreatic cancer.”
NOBLE CHAMPION IS THE JERSEY STAKES HERO! #ROYALASCOT pic.twitter.com/byzYHkfV2m
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) June 21, 2025
Impressive when breaking his maiden on Lingfield's Polytrack in November, Noble Champion ran seventh in the G3 Greenham Stakes at this trip before finishing third behind the subsequent G2 King Edward VII Stakes winner Amiloc trying a mile at Goodwood and seventh in the six-furlong Listed Carnarvon Stakes. This was like a piece of work and other than his errant passage when left in front was as straightforward a show of superiority as Walker could have hoped for.
“He had a setback in January, which messed up our prep for the Greenham–he needed that run,” his trainer explained. “We always thought he was a Guineas horse. We really believed in him but we thought we'd go a sensible route and ran in a conditions race at Goodwood over a mile. There wasn't much pace and he was keen and just got it all wrong.”
“We then brought him back to six furlongs at Newbury, because he had shown so much speed at home. We even thought we might end up supplementing him for the Commonwealth Cup, but that didn't work and finally the trainer got it right! He has such a high cruising speed and is just a very smart horse.”
Shoemark added, “He was in a lovely rhythm and it was just a matter of time–when I pressed go, he really hit the line strong. It can be a lonely place in front here as, with the grandstand, there is plenty to look at. He would not have been in front a lot on his own before, so he was entitled to be a little bit green, but he is very talented.”
Robert Havlin said of Spy Chief. “He is an inexperienced horse coming from a novice win at Yarmouth. He is still learning and still needs to relax a bit. I think the more racing he does, the better he will get.”
Pedigree Notes
Noble Champion's dam Cute, who is responsible for the aforementioned triple Group-winning Pogo by Zebedee, is kin to the three-times Group 2-winning Arabian Gleam (Kyllachy) who also shone over this trip. Among her other half-siblings are the dual Listed-winning and Group 3-placed sprinter Kimberella also by Kyllachy and Pikaboo (Pivotal), in turn the dam of the five-times Group 1-winning Oaks and 1,000 Guineas heroine Love (Galileo). From the family of the 2,000 Guineas and Irish 2,000 Guineas-winning sire Don't Forget Me, Cute's yearling is a full-brother to Noble Champion.
Saturday, Ascot, Britain
JERSEY STAKES-G3, £150,000, Ascot, 6-21, 3yo, 7fT, 1:24.99, g/f.
1–NOBLE CHAMPION (IRE), 129, c, 3, by Lope De Vega (Ire)
1st Dam: Cute (GB), by Diktat (GB)
2nd Dam: Gleam Of Light (Ire), by Danehill
3rd Dam: Gold Runner, by Runnett (GB)
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN; 1ST GROUP WIN. (140,000gns Wlg '22 TADEWE; 500,000gns Ylg '23 TATOCT). O-TBT Racing; B-Thomas Foy & Lope De Vega Syndicate; T-Ed Walker; J-Kieran Shoemark. £85,065. Lifetime Record: 6-2-0-1, $123,937. *1/2 to Pogo (Ire) (Zebedee {GB}), MGSW-Eng, G1SP-Fr, $752,519. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Spy Chief (GB), 129, g, 3, Kingman (GB)–Shirocco Star (GB), by Shirocco (Ger). 1ST BLACK TYPE; 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. (750,000gns Ylg '23 TATOCT). O-Godolphin; B-Meon Valley Stud; T-John & Thady Gosden. £32,250.
3–Comanche Brave (Ire), 129, c, 3, Wootton Bassett (GB)–Ishvana (Ire), by Holy Roman Emperor (Ire). O-Mrs John Magnier & Mrs Annemarie O'Brien; B-Whisperview Trading Ltd; T-Donnacha O'Brien. £16,140.
Margins: 3 1/4, 2 3/4, 1. Odds: 25.00, 20.00, 2.75.
Also Ran: Remmooz (GB), Yah Mo Be There (GB), Seagulls Eleven (Ire), Pellitory (GB), Dhitjari (GB), Marvelman (Ire), Brian (Ire), Caburn (Ire), California Dreamer (GB), Saracen (Fr), Benevento (Ire), One Smack Mac (Ire).
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