Trips to Kempton and Epsom over the past couple of days rounded off a busy period of action for Coral Racing Club runners following Cave Article, Ribbon Is A Dancer and Phoenix of Dreams' efforts on Sunday and Monday.

Our flag bearer of the year so far, Aspire To Glory, was the first of the two in midweek action as he headed to Kempton in search of his fourth win of the year. His partner in crime, Kieran O'Neill, was once again in the saddle, and the pair lined up against eight rivals in the Class 6 Handicap over a mile.

Aspire To Glory broke from the stalls like a prime Battaash, but Kieran was quick to restrain him to ensure he didn't use up too much energy early on. He settled into a rhythm nicely after that and allowed Kurious George under Tom Marquand to take the field along. As they turned into the home straight, there were few travelling better than Aspire To Glory aside from the well-backed Bold Suitor for trainer Craig Benton.

As they went past the cutaway, Kieran asked Aspire To Glory to kick-on and he responded well, but Bold Suitor continued to work his way into the race ominously. As they hit the furlong marker, he shot on by under Georgia Dobie and wasn't for catching. In the end Aspire To Glory came home in third place, still managing to landing his 10 owners for the day £620 in prize money and taking his total for 2025 to over £12,000.


Aspire To Glory's owners with Kieran O'Neill in the parade ring at Kempton

Alice Haynes got in touch the day after the race and this is what she had to say:

"Aspire To Glory is fine after yesterday's race. It was another solid effort. Kieran felt he was still slightly overracing and might be happier back at seven furlongs next time.

He might prefer that kind of trip at the sharper all-weather tracks like Chelmsford and Wolverhampton, so we'll look for something there in the coming weeks."

With the sunshine continuing to blast over the country, it was onto Epsom for our final runner of the week with Rockstar Icon for the Paul & Oliver Cole team. Following his encouraging return to action at Nottingham a few weeks ago under Luke Morris, the experienced jockey was in touch to ask to ride our four-year-old once the declaration was made on Tuesday.

The plan was to try to get an early prominent position in the field of 10, and that's exactly what happened, however, it actually ended up with Luke and Rockstar Icon leading the pack through the race which wasn't ideal. Despite the slight inconvenience of being the front-runner, our gelding seemed to take to the Epsom track well as he travelled smoothly throughout the first half of the race. As they turned into Tattenham Corner, the intensity started to lift, and Joe Leavy began to make a move on Golden Circet around the outside with Political Policy inbetween. Luke stayed composed on board Rockstar Icon despite the challenges, but as they hit the two furlong marker, he began to really ask for a reaction from our four-year-old to stay in touch, and he responded well, remaining just half a length off of Golden Circet who had taken up the lead.

Entering the final stages, his effort just began to fade away, and as they hit the line, it was Golden Circet who took the spoils, with Rockstar Icon finishing back in sixth after a late flurry from a handful of his other rivals.

WATCH: Luke Morris gives an honest review of Rockstar Icon's Epsom effort

Speaking to trainer Oliver Cole after the race, he agreed with what Luke had to say about potentially dropping Rockstar Icon back to seven furlongs which is the trip we've seen him most effective over so far in his career. His top Racing Post Rating (RPR) came when finishing fifth in a hot handicap at Newmarket last year when earning a rating of 80, and his sole win so far came over 7f too, so hopefully a return to that distance can help if that ends up being the case for his next start.

Stay tuned for the next update from Whatcombe Stables to find out where and when Rockstar Icon could be running next.