The well-bred Angelic Time got off the mark with victory at Wolverhampton on Saturday evening.
The testing ground at Newmarket was sighted as the reason for his disappointing debut at Newmarket and the Phoenix Thoroughbreds owned colt made no mistake on the synthetic surface at Dunstall Park. Ed Vaughan engaged the on-form Hollie Doyle for the ride and the pair made a good impression as the rider equalled the UK record for the number of wins in a calendar year for a female jockey.
Setting off from the seven-furlong start Angelic Time broke well and held his position on the inside, just off the lead. The son of Dark Angel travelled strongly throughout with even the casual observer able to see he was in with every chance. Doyle only began to wind-up her partner as the field turned into the short home straight. Despite being forced six wide Angelic Time found plenty and hit the front inside before running out the winner by a cosy enough half a length.
“Very nice, I could tell at halfway I had quite a lot of horse underneath me,” said Doyle assessing the run with Sky Sports Racing. “When I let him down initially, he was a little bit green he hit the front and lugged a bit left. He didn’t have to do a lot to get his head in front. He’s very nicely bred, a half-brother to Estidhkaar, he’s going the right way and I’d like to think he can improve from that.”