"Blade gives Dascombe his first Group win"

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HE has not been training long enough to establish the race-winning pedigree of a Peter Chapple-Hyam or a Richard Hannon, yet Tom Dascombe made a solid start when he exploded the established pecking order to land the TNT July Stakes to record his first Group victory yesterday, writes Jon Lees.
Chapple-Hyam, seeking his third win in five years, and Hannon his fourth in the oldest two-year-old race in the calendar, were relegated to second and third spot as Classic Blade - entered "on a whim" by third-season trainer Dascombe - made all the running under Richard Kingscote in the Group 2 race.
"He won a Class 2 conditions event last time and I said to the owners, 'let's stick him in and see what happens'," said Dascombe.
"I was out in America but managed to get on my computer and saw there were only nine entered. I thought we had to go for it.
"It's amazing. Our target last year was to have a Listed winner, which we achieved with Max One Two Three, and our target this year was to win a Group race; so we better make it two Group winners now.
"Above anything else, I'd just like to say a big 'thank-you' to all my staff because they all worked really hard for this."
Classic Blade cost ¿19,000 at Fairyhouse and will now contest the e300,000 Tattersalls (Ireland) Sales race at the Curragh on August 23 for the numerous members of the Classic Strollers partnership.
Kingscote, whose biggest win before this was in a £60,000 Ascot handicap, will ride him again.
He said: "Tom gives me brilliant orders and trusts me and everything worked out well. It's our first Group winner and it's great for the yard. Tom's an up-andcoming trainer and he's doing brilliant."
Sayif, Chapple-Hyam's challenger, was reeling in Classic Blade approaching the line and failed by only a short head.
His jockey Alan Munro said his mount ran off a straight line and should have won.
The ground was blamed for the defeat of Prolific. Harry Herbert, managing director of owners Highclere Thoroughbred Racing, said: "He travelled like a very good horse but once Ryan Moore let him down he couldn't quicken. As long as the ground is good or faster he will run in the Gimcrack."
Result TNT July Stakes 1 Classic Blade ............6-1 2 Sayif ........................3-1 3 Prolific ....................2-1f Owner Classic Strollers Trainer Tom Dascombe Jockey Richard Kingscote Groom Aimee Barnes Breeder Ballybrennan Stud Distances Sht hd, 3l

Racing Post Cutting July 12th

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DOING it once could be regarded as a fluke but doing it again just 24 hours later leaves no room for any doubt - Tom Dascombe is clearly a trainer on the up.
A day after beating the big battalions when Classic Blade gave him a first Group-race success with a short-head victory in the July Stakes, he repeated the trick in the Group 2 Weatherbys Superlative Stakes, and did it in style too.
Dascombe's Firth Of Fifth, stepping up in class after an all-the-way auction maiden success at Lingfield, ran his rivals into the ground again to score by a length and a quarter under Richard Kingscote.
"This just goes to show it is sometimes worth running," said Dascombe, who is now quoted at just 10-1 to win a Group 1 race this season by Coral, who rate him a 40-1 chance to win a British or Irish Classic in 2009.
"I was more confident with Classic Blade because it was an easier race. On form, Firth Of Fifth couldn't beat Bryan Smart's horse Prime Spirit, but he has kept improving and is tough."

Cutting from The Guardian on Friday 10th after Classic Blade's Group 2 success

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Tom Dascombe achieved his main ambition for the year when another front-runner, Classic Blade gave his yard a first Group-race success with a narrow success from Sayif in the July Stakes. Dascombe, a former assistant to the outstanding South African trainer Mike de Kock, has held a licence for less than three years, but has already sent out 56 winners at an impressive strike-rate of 19%.

"Last year our target was to have a Listed winner, which we achieved, and this year it was to win a Group race, so now we'll have to win two," Dascombe said. "He only cost €19,000 at Fairyhouse, so his next target is easy. He'll go for the €300,000 Tattersalls sales race [at The Curragh on August 23]."

A few more cuttings

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Tom Dascombe's quest for a second Group race victory after his win in the July Stakes on Thursday lasted precisely 24 hours, as Firth Of Fifth produced a near-identical display from the front to take the Superlative Stakes by one and a quarter lengths.

The step up to seven furlongs has been the making of Firth Of Fifth, who cost just 5,000gns as a yearling but ran on bravely to beat a field that included Grand Ducal, the favourite from Aidan O'Brien's yard, who was 335,000gns more expensive at the sales, but finished out of the frame.

"He had a huge hock on him, he did it on the way over, and there was no interest in him so we thought we'd have a go," Dascombe said. "My vet did a fantastic job on him and it's come good."