Friday 26 June
Doncaster 2.00 – 6F Maiden Fillies Stakes (Class 5) Good to Firm
Ten fillies went to post for this maiden, the non runner being GAELIC ANGEL (going). There were three debutantes in the field.
ALSAADEN had finished second on debut here over 7F, hitting the front about 100 yards out before being caught. close home. The fifth horse in that race won a Class 5 maiden next time out. Today, Richard Hannon’s filly was sent off the even money favourite. She led throughout and although driven a furlong out, she stayed on to win by 1¼ lengths.
TAWWAAQ (Roger Varian) made it a 1-2 for Hamdan Al Maktoum when finishing in second place. Held up behind the leader, she had every chance a furlong out but could not find any extra. She had previously finished fourth, beaten over nine lengths, on debut at Nottingham. Seven subsequent runners from this race have failed to produce a place. She cost £120000 as a yearling and is from a mare who was unplaced on her only start. She has produced one winning foal at 5F and 6F, including two Listed race wins at 5F.
FLORENZA had finished fourth on debut at Ripon when it was reported that she was denied a clear run. Today she went one place better, a further ¾ length back. Owner bred, she is from a mare who won between 13F and 16F (highest winning OR of 67).
Doncaster 2.30 – 7F Novice Stakes (Class 5) Good to Firm
The four runners who were declared all took part in this Novice Stakes. All four had won on their last appearance.
ALBERNATHY (Charlie Appleby) had been green on debut at Haydock, but next time out at Sandown, despite being hard pressed close home, held on to win by a neck. The fifth horse in that race won a Class 4 maiden next time out.
TORMENT (Richard Hannon) had won his maiden at Windsor, on his only start, by 1¾ lengths. Five subsequent runners from this race have failed to produce a place.
CHAMPAGNE CITY (Mark Johnston) had finished fourth on debut at York before getting up close home to win at Beverley. The third in that race finished second in a Class 6 maiden next time out.
LUCYMAI (Dean Ivory) was a shock 50/1 winner at Kempton on debut. On that day, she was still four lengths down at the furlong pole but came with a strong late run to lead on the the line. The sixth horse finished fourth in a Class 4 maiden on his next appearance.
The market found it hard to decide which horse should be favourite but it eventually settled on TORMENT at 6/4 with ALBERNATHY being sent off at 13/8.
CHAMPAGNE CITY led from the start but at the two furlong pole, all four of the runners were still in with a chance. However at that stage, the leader quickened and went on to win by two lengths from ALBERNATHY.
TORMENT finished third a further 3¾ lengths back.
Newmarket 6.20 – 6F Maiden Fillies Stakes (Class 5) Good
Ten runners contested this maiden, MEDIA BOOK was a non runner (lame) and AE FANANAH was withdrawn at the start. There were five debutantes in the race.
LADY MACAPA put up a decent performance for William Knight and finished third on debut on the Rowley Mile. Today she put that experience to good use as she lost he maiden tag at the second attempt. She broke smartly and led on the rail but soon tacked over to the centre of the track where she continued to lead with WHITE WITCH for company. These were the only two runners to get into the race and when ridden, LADY MACAPA quickly went clear to win by 2¾ lengths.
WHITE WITCH had also finished third on her debut, at Haydock. The fourth in that race won a Class 5 maiden next time out. She was made the 7/4 favorite this evening.
BAHAARAH (Richard Hannon) was making her debut. She was behind early but made progress to finish in third place, a further length away. She cost 55000 guineas as a yearling and is from a mare who won in Italy over 5F and 6F, including a Group 3 and Listed Race. She has produced one winning foal at 11F in Ireland (OR of 56).
The Starter reported that AE FANANAH, trained by Ismail Mohammed, was unruly in the stalls and withdrawn. The trainer’s attention was drawn to the restriction incurred under Rule (B)44 and informed that the filly could not run until the day after passing a stalls test.
Chester 7.05 7F Maiden Fillies Stakes (Class 5) Good to Firm
With AWOHAAM declared a non runner (bad scope), this left eight runners. There was one newcomer in the field.
The two market leaders were ANEESAH (10/11) and CANNY STYLE (2/1). These two had made their debuts in the same race at Doncaster. Whilst CANNY STYLE (Kevin Ryan) finished third on that occasion, ANEESAH (Roger Varian) was only about two lengths back in seventh. Both of them were hindered on that day by a lack of room towards the end of the contest. That race has now thrown up three subsequent winners after the favourite won this evening as well as ALSAADEN earlier this afternoon (see Doncaster above). She was tucked in behind the leaders but managed to get out in the home straight and just got up in the final strides to win by a head. Purchased for 23000 guineas as a foal, she was then resold as a yearling for £180000. She is the first foal from a mare who won at 6F and 8F (highest winning OR of 87).
Mark Johnston’s THOLEN was drawn in the outside stall but was away smartly and managed to cross over to the rail. She tried to make all and very nearly succeeded (traded at a low of 1.35 in running).
THOLEN had been eased when beaten on debut at Goodwood and last time out finished fifth here, both over 5F. Darley bred, she is from a mare who won over 5F and 6F, including a Listed race. She has produced many winning foals over all distances, including hurdles, the most successful being a group 3 winner in France at 7F.
CANNY STYLE finished a further 2¼ lengths away in third.
News Update
Giles Bravery:
Tomorrow COBANA SAND runs in the Listed Empress Stakes at Newmarket (my preview here) Yet again another one we would like a little bit of water for; it doesn’t look a bad sort of race for her though. Karl Burke’s filly in the race, has been purchased by Qatar Racing after her impressive 4½ length debut win at Redcar. However the second that day did get turned over by the same distance in the big seller at York, but she does look the part. Cobana Sand is in great order and we have the pleasure of putting Harry Bentley on board.
Come Monday we may have three runners at Windsor, ground dependant. First time out 2yo LUCIA SCIARRA probably won’t run if the ground stays the same. In the same race we have LILS JOY, who whilst we were disappointed with her last time, we think it came a bit quick after her hard run in the Listed race at York . Her last race at at Catterick has ended up being a little bit better than we first thought, as the first and the second finished 4th and 5th in the Albany and the 3rd won a nice race at Ripon next time out. We are drawn a little bit on the outside which makes her chance slightly better and this race at Windsor looks very winnable. If the race divides Lil’s Joy will be the one to take away from that race.
Godolphin:
Two-year-old colts LOG OUT ISLAND and Saafarr bid for glory in the Group Two GAIN Railway Stakes at the Curragh, Ireland, on Saturday, June 27.
Log Out Island (Richard Hannon/William Buick) steps up to six furlongs following two excellent runs over a furlong shorter, most recently when battling well to go down by half a length to Waterloo Bridge in the Group Two Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 18.
He made all of the running for a facile success in a conditions race at the same course on April 29, in which subsequent Coventry Stakes winner Buratino was third.
Saafarr (Jim Bolger/Kevin Manning) came home sixth to Rockaway Valley on his only start to date in a maiden, run over the same course and distance as the GAIN Railway Stakes, on June 7.
Richard Hannon commented: “Log Out Island is crying out for six furlongs and this looks a good opportunity for him.”
Jim Bolger said: “Saafarr is very well and I am hoping that he can get some black type.”
Richard Hannon on LOG OUT ISLAND:
‘It looks a good opportunity for him at Group Two level, so we decided we’d let him take his chance. It does come up quite quick, but he’s only really had the one race in his life and I really want to see him run over six furlongs. We are taking a chance with him slightly and hopefully it doesn’t come too quick, but if it does we can give him a break and bring him back for the Winkfield Stakes at Ascot at the end of July.’
Hugo Palmer:
Things didn’t really work out for HARRY CHAMPION at Windsor on Monday and he was very very sore afterwards in the stable yard. He was fine immediately afterwards but he was very lame after that. Even though he’s sound and fine now, we’re just being very careful with him and he’s going to go for tests next week to make sure he doesn’t have anything that would enforce a little break, something lurking that we can’t see or feel. It’s great that he’s sound now and whatever he’s done isn’t going to be career-threatening. It’s just going to take a bit of time to heal, if indeed he’s done something. He could have just wrenched himself or banged himself or done something like that but there was a reason there that he didn’t run his race.
The only people that were surprised about THEY SEEK HIM HERE’s win were the bookmakers. He’s been an exceptional colt from the moment I laid eyes on him as a yearling. There was no way I was leaving Fairyhouse without him and I’ve seen nothing in the following eight months to change my opinion of him. I hold him in the highest regard and it was no surprise to see him win and win pretty comfortably as well. I think it was an indication of the strength of the race…I mean, the guys that owned him took thousands off the bookmakers on Wednesday night and it was a rare bet for me. I don’t think I’ve backed one of my horses for 14 months but I couldn’t believe he was 20-1 in a place. I had a few quid each-way which paid for dinner that night which was very nice. All the first five or six were quite heavily fancied and things obviously went awry for them. There was a lot of bad behaviour in the paddock beforehand and our lad was very professional which was very nice to see. He’ll probably need a bit of cut in the ground as he’s a big horse. We probably won’t overrace him this year. There’s a half-temptation to maybe put him in the Superlative but that’s a big ask to go straight from a maiden to Group Two on your second run. He was still quite green and I think he’ll improve with racing so we’ll just see. I don’t think he’d want to run on very fast ground and it’s a long year. He’s much more of a three-year-old type but he’d come forward quite quickly in quite a short space of time so it was a question of either giving him a run or giving him a break. We’ve given him a run and he’s a winner now so we’ll just see how he is in the next few weeks whether or not to give him a break or we get some ground and push on with him.
It was a huge relief to see GIFTED MASTER back in the winners’ enclosure at Newcastle. He’s been his own worst enemy for a very long time and we’ve relieved him of those problems and he was a totally different proposition yesterday. He was very calm to saddle, very relaxed in the preliminaries, so much so that I had to check with his lad and enquire as to whether he was flat or alright. He was such a handful as a colt and he’s now such a gentleman as a gelding and he was a gentleman in the race in everything he did. He went down to post perfectly, he came back perfectly. Graham Gibbons was very impressed with him and said he felt like a smart horse. The nice thing is now that he’s relaxing in his races, I think he’d be more of a seven-furlong horse or a miler in time with a turn of foot rather than just a sprinter which, in my book anyway, is a much more exciting proposition to train. All options remain open apart from the Dewhurst, the Guineas, the Arc de Triomphe and the Derby and the St Leger, I think. And the St James’s Palace. All options remain open until proven otherwise. He’s done everything right at Newcastle and we’ll see how he takes it. The winner of the race last year was of course our Aktabantay who was second in the Superlative on his next start 16 days later. The winner the year before was Good Old Boy Lukey who won the Superlative on his next start 16 days later so we’ll see how the next 16 days go but the Superlative could be a real possibility for him. On the face of it, it looked like he won on the bridle and the jockey said we haven’t scratched the surface here. So I hope he’s right. He did spend most of the morning lying down though but it’s a long journey to go to Newcastle and spend the night in a foreign box and come back here. We’ll see how he is before making plans but that’s a possible route.
EDIYE was fifth on her debut at Newcastle. Joe Fanning got off and I did say to him, “I’m not sure you could have found more trouble if you were looking for it.” He did admit that was a fair assessment of what had happened for him in the race. Things go wrong and he did say with a clear run he felt he would have won on the bridle. I think she’s a smart filly and she travelled with a lot of class for him and then the gaps closed on her a couple of times and she got a massive bump. She lost her balance and he just looked after her as there was no point getting stuck into her after that. She’ll come on a tonne for it and I expect her to be winning sooner rather than later.
UBLA makes his debut at Newmarket tomorrow. He’s named after a village in Slovakia where one of the owners’ wife is from. It’s in the same ownership as They Seek Him Here. I can’t quite believe lightning is going to strike twice in a week for the MPH Syndicate. MPH stands for Michael Patrick Hills and it’s organised around him by Johnny Bryan and it’s been fantastic. We got the absolute perfect start – the first time the colours have seen the racecourse, They Seek Him Here saluted the judge. So I can’t quite believe lightning’s going to strike twice in a week but none of us would be enormously shocked if it did. That said, the horse isn’t fancied to win but he is fancied to run a nice race. We’ve always liked him. He got a bit lazy in his work and started looking at the girls too much quite early on so we nipped that in the bud and that’s why he’s already a gelding. I don’t think any potential punter should ever be put off by a horse already being a gelding. If you’re looking to back a horse to win a race and you see it’s already a gelding, at least you know it’s not going to get colty and misbehave and throw away its race that way. I’d have thought it was a plus rather than a minus but the Racing Post like to flag it up as a negative and they have for him. He’s a nice horse who I would expect to run a nice race but it’s a Newmarket maiden and it might be a bit smarter than Kempton first time and you never know what might be lurking in there. But his work has been good and the same really can be said for RONNIE BAIRD who makes his debut at Doncaster tomorrow evening. They are both similar types, they’ve done a lot of their work together and if Ubla ran really well than I’d expect Ronnie Baird to run pretty similarly.
On Wednesday, two nice fillies go to Kempton. We’ve been trying to run HAWKSMOOR on ground that was good or a little bit softer and we’ve been struggling to find it. I was misinformed about Doncaster a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t declare and the ground was soft. Since then, there’s been virtually no rain so we’re going to Kempton. She’s a filly I’ve always liked. Her work’s been good and, first day at school, but she’ll be doing her best.
We were going to run AILSA ON MY MIND in the Empress at Newmarket tomorrow but she scoped dirty so she’s just going to have a week off. The horse she finished a length behind first time out finished second to Gifted Master yesterday so it’s nice to see that form working out.
Two Year Old Racing 2015 