Arizona Blaze fires home in Marble Hill geegeez.co.uk

Arizona Blaze continued to impress with victory in the GAIN Marble Hill Stakes at the Curragh.

Adrian Murray and Amo Racing’s Sergei Prokofiev colt won on debut before coming home the runner-up behind the highly-regarded Whistlejacket next time out.

Both runs were over five furlongs, and for his third career start he stepped up to six under David Egan when a 7-1 chance.

The two-year-old was always prominent in the Group Three, taking up the lead early but finding himself under pressure as Camille Pissarro, the 4-6 favourite, loomed in the final furlong.

Arizona Blaze would not allow himself to be passed, however, and despite hanging right he still prevailed by a head to book his place at Royal Ascot.

“The plan was to drop him out and come from behind but there was no pace early on and he had choice but to go on,” said Murray.

Arizona Blaze strikes in a thrilling finish to the @GAINEquine Marble Hill Stakes, run in memory of Theresa Marnane.

The colt struck in our opening two-year-old race of the season and now he's off to Royal Ascot! 🎩 pic.twitter.com/f8OfXp1h8L

— The Curragh Racecourse (@curraghrace) May 25, 2024

“He stuck at it very well. He’s still not the finished article, there is more improvement in him between now and the Coventry Stakes.

“He was an early horse but we gave him an easy time of it after that to give him time to grow into himself.

“The last day he got beat here he wouldn’t have been 110 per cent.

“He had a right little bit of a blow after that race, so he’ll come on again.”

On training such high calibre horses, Murray added: “It’s dream stuff. I never could have imagined that this would happen to me.

“Robson (Aguiar, of Amo Racing) asked me two and a half or three years ago if I would train for them. He said that we’re going to be training top drawer stuff and I kind of took it with a pinch of salt but one year has been better than the next.”