800-mile round trip to Surrey pays off for Borders racehorse trainer Katie Scott with near-£40,000 win

That win, for 7-2 favourite Naana’s Shadow, came in the Betfred Derby Festival meeting’s 1.30pm opener, the £75,000 Win With Zyn 3YO Dash, billed as the fastest five-furlong race in the world.

The three-year-old grey filly, owned by South Lanarkshire’s Summerstorm Bloodstock, was ridden to victory by champion jockey Oisin Murphy, finishing three-quarters of a length ahead of Sam James on Call Margot, trained by North Yorkshire’s Gemma Tutty.

Scott was delighted to see her horse, parented by Havana Grey and Beauty Pageant, claim her second win in four races since arriving at her Lindean stables, and third in eight all told, saying: “We had a horse similar to her that we brought here two years ago and finished fifth, and when Naana’s Shadow won at Catterick, my head girl, Abby Robertson, said to me this is similar, I thought ‘do you know what, let’s give it a bash’.

“It was quite tacky at York the other day and there was a bit of a headwind and she just got done late on, but it’s been a blessing really, because to have a winner here today is massive for us.

“The soft ground was an unknown, rather than a negative, but she handled it no bother.

“I haven’t had much of a chance to talk to Oisin but he just said ‘she’s so well behaved, such a pleasure and very fast’.

“We had the best man on board. We’ve done our job – you just have to leave it up to them on the day, don’t you, but we were screaming her home.

“We’ve only got 21 horses – we’ve only got 21 stables, that’s us full – so we don’t have a great number of chances to advertise what we can do.

“We’ve got some really fast fillies in the yard this year. We’ve got her and we’ve got a couple of listed fillies as well, Figjam and Luna a Inbhir Nis, so from our small team, we’re producing above what we should be.

“Today was the target. I suppose the next one will be black type at some point over the summer.”

Murphy added: “She’s fast and on pedigree, she was going to improve for slow ground, which she got.

“She gave me a lovely ride, and well done to her trainer.”

Naana’s Shadow’s other first-placed finish for Scott, also over five furlongs and at 7-2, was at Catterick in North Yorkshire in April with Darragh Keenan riding, earning £4,187, and she also delivered a win, over five furlongs too, for prior trainer Alice Haynes’ Suffolk yard at Wolverhampton in the West Midlands last October at 5-2 with Hollie Doyle as jockey, collecting prize money of £3,672.