Denton Hall News

Mulrennan praises Dods as Northern Express lands big Ascot victory

Jockey Paul Mulrennan has praised trainer Michael Dods after Northern Express produced a game front-running performance to pick up a deserved valuable prize in the £150,000 Moet & Chandon International Stakes over seven furlongs at Ascot.

Mulrennan, the gelding's regular pilot, said: "Michael he is great at keeping these horses going year after year and it’s great to get a winner here."

The flashy chestnut, owned by Sekura Group, had earned a rating of 102 due to his consistency and Dods had expressed concern about hus number one draw ahead of the race.

However, Mulrennan was able to dominate from the front and the six-year-old held on to win by a neck from David O'Meara's fast-finishing New Image.

Northern Express had run well in a series of big handicaps this season without quite claiming top honours, including two runner-up efforts at York and fifth place in the Buckingham Palace at Royal Ascot.

However, he put that right to score at 22-1, with Mulrennan adding: “He has been a real good servant to everyone, we discussed it last week that he was just getting a little bit cute in his old age so we popped the cheekpieces on. You have to remember he has won over a mile hence we weren’t afraid to use him over seven and he kept grinding it out.

“He’s been very consistent in knocking on the door, and the cheekpieces had the desired effect. We couldn’t see any pace on and luckily I was able to get onto a fairly easy lead. The owners are all here and it’s massive as it is very hard to come down here and win.”