There was an afternoon meeting at Musselburgh on Wednesday with only 500 spectators watching on. Luckily Gordon Brown was there watching all the action.

Gordon Brown reports: Callum Rodriguez was full of praise for Gioia Cieca after the partnership scrambled home by a short-head in the feature race at Musselburgh on Wednesday.

The Keith Dalgleish-trained 15/2 chance was given a positive ride by his jockey as they held off odds-on favourite Tadreeb in a nail-biting finish to the Visit racingtv.com Handicap over seven-furlongs.

Rodriguez said: “He’s a proper horse and wasn’t totally disgraced in the Britannia Handicap at Royal Ascot. That was his first run on turf and he’s a lovely type with a top American pedigree.

“I would say he doesn’t wants the ground any quicker than this but he’ll stay further and he should have a decent future. He just took me there so easily and he clearly has tons of ability.”

Dalgleish and Rodriquez teamed up 35 minutes later to complete a quick-fire double when Clay Regazzoni won by a neck in the Bet At RacingTV.com Handicap and land his first race on grass at the 23rd attempt.

+ posts