Darley first-season sire Refuse To Bend took his tally of winners to five when Courageous (pictured) made a winning debut at Redcar and Bass was successful in Italy at Varese.
Settled at the rear early, Courageous made steady progress to lead inside the final furlong to battle on gamely for a short-head success, belying his lack of experience.
Bred by Mrs Hugh McCalmont, he is the first foal of winning Sri Pekan mare Bella Bella, who is a half-sister to Stakes winner Silk Petal.
Bass won for the first time at his third attempt at Varese on Saturday evening. Showing improvement on every start, he won by half-a-length (with five lengths back to the third) over the 1500m trip. Bred in Ireland by Ascagnano Spa, he is a half-brother to multiple winner Lake Poet out of Lycius mare, Lyric.
Tiger Hill colt Abbashiva won his first Pattern race on Sunday when taking the G3 Grosser Hessen-Meile (1600m) at Frankfurt. He has now won his last two starts after taking a Listed race at Hannover last time out. Owned and bred by Nathalie and Bruno Schuoler, he is out of the Goofalik mare Abba and is half-brother to current German G3 scorer Abbajinn. The Schuolers have retained his two-year-old full-sibling, who is in training with Abbashiva’s trainer, Peter Rau.
At Dusseldorf, In The Wings colt Adlerflug came back to winning form when victorious in the G1 Deutschland Preis. This was his first victory since running away with the Deutsches Derby in 2007 by seven lengths.
