Military Code has Appleby thinking of Royal Ascot

Charlie Appleby put a mixed start to the season behind him by registering his second double of the Craven meeting with Military Code and Indian Spring in the opening two contests on Thursday.

The Godolphin trainer has seen the likes of Mountain Breeze, Al Qudra, Verse Of Love, Aomori City and Opera Ballet beaten in trials in recent days, although he did leave his home track on Tuesday with a brace.

And Military Code, a homebred colt by Wootton Bassett, has him thinking of Royal Ascot after winning the British Stallion Studs EBF Novice Stakes at 6-1 in just a five-runner race.

Appleby said: “We came here with a bit of confidence, but then he went on the drift in the market – probably related to the kind of week we’ve had. He’d done some nice work and as a physical you can’t fault him.

“We’ve got a little group of two-year-olds we like and hopefully they’ll all come along together. We’d hoped he’d be an Ascot-type of horse and he’s still on track.

“We’ll let the dust settle, we might look at the National Stakes which would be over five (furlongs) again, but we’ve potentially got another couple of two-year-olds so we’ll see where they are as well – standing here you’d probably say six will be his trip, the Coventry.”

In the following Alex Scott Maiden Stakes, Indian Springs built on his promising sole run from last year.

Another homebred, the son of Too Darn Hot is related to the useful sprinter Lazuli but was up against other colts who had shown plenty of ability in their short careers.

One of those, Nakeeb, was always handy, while Mishriff’s brother Kaleido was the one William Buick chose to follow on the 2-1 favourite.

Indian Springs showed a very smart turn of foot on entering the dip and quickened up to win by two and a half lengths from Nakeeb, with Kaleido keeping on nicely in third.

Buick told Racing TV: “He did that really nicely, he’d only had the one run at Kempton at the back end of last year so that was really pleasing.

“I think he’ll improve in every way, I think he’ll get a mile in time. He’s bred to be quite speedy, but I loved the way he did it today, he relaxed and finished off strongly.