La Bellota digs deep for Prospect prize

John Ryan’s La Bellota saw off the might of Wathnan Racing and Coolmore to win the William Hill Prospect Stakes at Doncaster.

Ryan is down to a string of just 10 horses these days but La Bellota had already finished second in the Mill Reef and run in the Prix de l’Abbaye this season.

The Newmarket handler was forced to draw stumps halfway through the season due to the ill health of his string but they are ending the campaign in top form.

Fourth in the Cornwallis Stakes two weeks ago, Oisin Murphy set a searching gallop on the 13-2 shot, despite the testing conditions.

Anything that did not race down the centre of the track seemed beaten at halfway but Wathnan’s Diego Ventura and Aidan O’Brien’s Bounty were giving chase.

Having only his second run over six furlongs, his other being the Mill Reef, La Bellota saw it out well to hold Diego Ventura by a neck.

“He’s been a busy horse but unfortunately for him, he keeps trying so we’ve got to keep going,” said Ryan.

“We were probably unlucky going to France, he missed the break and in a race such as that, you are not going to get away with it.

“He didn’t run too badly last time at Newmarket when he got caught in the middle and I knew there was a decent race in him. It’s good for the owner who has been a great supporter of me.”

He went on: “I don’t think I took a breath in the last half a furlong but Oisin said he broke well and in that ground he didn’t want to take a pull on him and disappoint him.

“He’s so game. We put blinkers on today to help him concentrate as despite all his runs, he’s still very green.

“It’s nice for a small yard to have a good horse to carry us through, we’re down to 10 horses now, we need horses like this.

“Hopefully Manaccan will be back in the new year, he’s back in full training now so it’s exciting for next year.

“We had a problem in the yard in the beginning of the year, a lot were sick so we had to lay off them but a bit of time cures most things.”