3 minute read

David Simcock is looking forward to returning to Canada in a bid to win the G1 Pattison Canadian International for a second time

Desert Encounter  (15/2, Jamie Spencer) was produced late to beat Mirage Dancer (4/6, Ryan Moore) readily by two and a quarter lengths in the G3 L'Ormarins Queen's Plate Glorious Stakes over a mile and a half.

Simcock said: "That was fun to watch. You don't have to give Jamie too many instructions. He surprised us slightly at Newmarket, but we knew he was getting to his time of year. We pretty much knew he was there today and so we were quietly confident. We've always said August, September and October are his time of year.

"He's been asked to dance some pretty tough dances in King Georges and so on, and he's very quick to say 'no' if it's too tough. You could almost call him a small field bully, or a Group 3 bully, but with no three-year-olds in the race, and everything exposed, it was quite good for him today.

"Jamie enjoyed riding him and it's nice to see a jockey like that ride a horse like that. We didn't let Jamie ride him until today this season, when we felt we were getting really close to where we wanted to be."

Desert Encounter beat Thundering Blue at Woodbine last October, and that's where he is headed again. Simcock said: "We'll probably go down a similar route and we'll go Windsor then Newbury, or possibly just Newbury and then Canada. He should go there with a good chance I should think."

Spencer said: "He has always taken a few races to get cherry-ripe, and on his last start, in the G2 Princess of Wales's Stakes at Newmarket, he was half a length behind the favourite today. So maybe the odds didn't reflect our chances because we felt our horse was coming forwards again. Jenny, David's wife, has been riding him and she was very happy with him.

"If you try and put him in amongst them early, he does too much and won't finish; he is seven years of age and this is his style of running. He still wears a hood and can over-race if things don't go right. We didn't go crazy early but we got racing four furlongs out. I kept filling him up and he was happier and happier as the race progressed. I pulled him out and he quickened really well.

"I enjoyed it. We were tracking last year's winner [Mirage Dancer] and he came off the bridle earlier than I expected; I thought I had him covered, and I was always just a little worried, with a Mark Johnston horse on the rail - you don't want to give him too much rope, so I was keeping an eye on Frankie [on Baghdad, third].

"The race worked out perfectly for Desert Encounter and he came here in tip-top shape.