Back in May, there were question marks over Trueshan following some disappointing (by his standards) performances from the veteran stayer. There was even talk of going hurdling.
One wind operation and four months later, the seven year old has proved them wrong with a bullish performance to win the Doncaster Cup and add a further £73,723 to his impressive prize money haul.
Autumn is Trueshan's time, when the ground eases and the speed of some others is blunted. But for the first two-thirds of the race on Town Moor, spectators could be fogiven for thinking Trueshan had not read the script. Pulling hard for his head in a slow paced race, it took all Hollie Doyle's strength and expertise to anchor him in fourth place, and in a small field there was little cover to drop him in.
Part way around the final bend, Doyle took the race by the scruff of the neck pushing a willing Trueshan to take the lead off Broome and Coltrane and exerting by 3-4 lengths as they entered the straight. Doyle set sail for home, but also for the middle of the track where watering had been at its most effective, and where Trueshan could get his toe in best.
Although headed 2 out, he rallied again to wrest back the lead to win by 1 1/4l, returning a highly popular winner to the knowledgeable Yorkshire crowd.
Hollie told the Racing Post, "It wasn't ideal for him [the slow early pace] racing off a break like that. He's a very fresh horse and they were going slower and slower. It could have been a race winning move or a race losing move and thankfully he was good enough to get away with it".
His esteemed trainer was absent, but will be chirpier for knowing his stable star is back on song for his annual outing to British Champions Day at Ascot next month, where he's won the Long Distance Cup twice.
Back in May, there were question marks over Trueshan following some disappointing (by his standards) performances from the veteran stayer. There was even talk of going hurdling.
One wind operation and four months later, the seven year old has proved them wrong with a bullish performance to win the Doncaster Cup and add a further £73,723 to his impressive prize money haul.
Autumn is Trueshan's time, when the ground eases and the speed of some others is blunted. But for the first two-thirds of the race on Town Moor, spectators could be fogiven for thinking Trueshan had not read the script. Pulling hard for his head in a slow paced race, it took all Hollie Doyle's strength and expertise to anchor him in fourth place, and in a small field there was little cover to drop him in.
Part way around the final bend, Doyle took the race by the scruff of the neck pushing a willing Trueshan to take the lead off Broome and Coltrane and exerting by 3-4 lengths as they entered the straight. Doyle set sail for home, but also for the middle of the track where watering had been at its most effective, and where Trueshan could get his toe in best.
Although headed 2 out, he rallied again to wrest back the lead to win by 1 1/4l, returning a highly popular winner to the knowledgeable Yorkshire crowd.
Hollie told the Racing Post, "It wasn't ideal for him [the slow early pace] racing off a break like that. He's a very fresh horse and they were going slower and slower. It could have been a race winning move or a race losing move and thankfully he was good enough to get away with it".
His esteemed trainer was absent, but will be chirpier for knowing his stable star is back on song for his annual outing to British Champions Day at Ascot next month, where he's won the Long Distance Cup twice.
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