Tenor and his groom in the winners enclosure at Sandown Park.

By Simon Jackson at Sandown.

The connections of Tenor were once again rewarded for their patient approach when the four-year-old landed the Listed feature race at Sandown’s last flat meeting of the season.

The victory was the John Ryan-trained gelding’s sixth of the year since being gelded and undergoing a wind operation after joining the trainer.

Tenor raced close to the pace for Adam Kirby in the one mile Nigel & Carolyn Elwes Fortune Stakes. He was sent clear at the furlong and kept on well to win by a length from the fast finishing Producer.

“The owner took the gamble with me to have the wind op’ and to have him gelded and for a moment we really thought we had gone wrong with it because he got a bad infection and it took him a long time to get over it,” Ryan said. “But the owner was patient and confident. We gave him a lot of time and that is what the horse has needed.

“You can see he is a big horse and the time is just what he wanted. He is tough.

“The ground was on the easy side of good, which isn’t ideal for him and whichever way you look at it he had a tough race on Sunday [when winning at Bath].

“It didn’t look tough, but you still have to turn up at Bath and it is a long way for us. But the apprentice Joe Doyle’s five pound claim made the difference on Sunday and if it wasn’t for that, I probably wouldn’t have dreamt of bringing him here.

“He is a horse that keeps on coming back and giving his best.”

Ryan is now eyeing Dubai at the end of the year, but in the meantime is considering the Betfred Cambridgeshire at Newmarket on September 27 where Tenor is a 14-1 shot with most firms.

“He is in the Cambridgeshire. If the ground comes right for him and stays on the good side then we would look at it,” Ryan confirmed. “But if there is any soft in it he definitely wouldn’t run. I think he is a horse that would probably give us a bit of fun in Dubai at the end of the season or at the beginning of next year.”

Tenor’s victory completed a 57-1 treble for Kirby. He won the opening race, a five furlong Class 5, on the John Jenkins-trained Only Ten Per Cent and followed up with an impressive win on Latharnach who has been given a quote of 33-1 for the 2000 Guineas by Betfred.

Sandown’s next meeting is a national hunt card on November 8.

Read ‘Horse Talk with Simon Jackson’ at London24 for the latest horse racing news.