It could be a big weekend for Owen Burrows and Jim Crowley, who will be looking to defy stall fourteen as Hukum bids for Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe glory this Sunday, and the pair kicked off proceedings in the perfect way when Alyanaabi got up late to land the Group 3 Tattersalls Stakes at Newmarket.
Owen Burrows' colt kicked off his career in the perfect style when winning first-time-out over six furlongs at Salisbury, a success that prompted connections to roll the dice into Listed company at Ascot last time.
He stepped up to seven furlongs at Ascot and the Owen Burrows-trained runner looked to be going easily at the two-furlong marker but found trouble in running and could only manage to stay on into fourth place. The winner that day, Rosallion, went on to finish third in the Group 2 Champagne Stakes on soft ground at Doncaster.
Zabriskie Point and Inishfallen both looked to put their experience to good use as they headed the twelve-strong field. With two furlongs to run, the pair began to face challengers with Boiling Point showing a smart turn of foot to strike the front. Roger Varian's well-backed Thirsk novice winner looked to have the race wrapped up with fifty yards to travel, but Alyanaabi, who was once again all dressed up with nowhere to go, soon found daylight and the 4/1 chance quickened up in taking style to score by a short-head.
Eben Shaddad emerged with plenty of credit on his second racecourse appearance back in third, while the 9/4 favourite, Military, finished a further half-length back in fourth for Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore.
Owen Burrows said: "Well he would have been an unlucky loser wouldn't he,"
"We felt we would have been closer at Ascot, albeit probably not have won, with a bit of a better run. The plan was to be a bit handier, but he just takes a bit of knowing this horse and he's still learning as well."
"We were a little bit further back than ideal and obviously there wasn't a lot of room two down, and we were blocked in quite tight, but he came good for us."
A tilt at the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes back over the same course and distance could be on the cards with the son of Too Darn Hot holding an entry on October 14th.
Burrows added: "Well he's in the Dewhurst so after just chatting to Angus [Gold] there we'll see how he comes out of that."
With conditions officially described as good-to-firm this afternoon, Burrows was keen to stress decent ground is favourable for the Shadwell-owned colt.
"I think this sort of nice ground is important to him, he didn't show his speed that we see at home on sort of good-to-soft, dead ground at Ascot last time."
"It was pleasing to see that today and we'll see what the ground is like in a few weeks."
Paddy Power make the winner an 8/1 chance from 33/1 to land the Group 1 juvenile prize back on the Rowley Mile, while the same firm have introduced him at 20/1 for the 2000 Guineas next year, with Burrows commenting "hopefully we'll be back in May time next year".
