By Tom Frary
Now that Indestructible (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) has boosted the 2000 Guineas credentials of Chaldean (GB) (Frankel {GB}) when winning Newmarket's G3 Craven S., it is up to the star of Andrew Balding's Kingsclere base to strengthen them further in a fascinating G3 Watership Down Stud Too Darn Hot Greenham S. at Newbury.
Relentless during a 2-year-old campaign that took in York's G3 Acomb S., Doncaster's G2 Champagne S. and the all-important G1 Dewhurst S. at Newmarket, the chestnut offers perhaps the sternest competition to Ballydoyle's pair of loaded guns in a fortnight's time but first he has to get through soft ground again as he did at Doncaster.
“Like all of these trials, he's not 100% tuned up, but he's fit and well and ready to run a good race and we will see where that takes us,” Juddmonte's racing manager Barry Mahon explained. “These trials are so tight, it's only two weeks to the Guineas from Newbury, so you don't want to go there 100% and have a hard race and leave your Guineas behind. He'll be 85 to 90% and in good form and as long as he runs a race with promise, no matter where he finishes, it will build us into the Guineas in two weeks time.”
Into The Heat Of Battle
Up against Chaldean is KHK Racing's unbeaten TDN Rising Star Knight (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), who overcame heavy ground in the G3 Horris Hill S. over this course and seven-furlong distance in October. Into black-type company for the first time, the similarly unbeaten money-spinner Streets Of Gold (Ire) (Havana Gold {Ire}) and impressive Doncaster novice scorer Theoryofeverything (GB) (Frankel {GB}) add weight to a Classic trial far deeper than its Newmarket equivalent.
Thady Gosden said of the latter, “He is a smartly-bred colt, so we decided he should take his chance in a very competitive race. It is as strong a Greenham as we have seen for a while, with plenty of smart horses in there and obviously it will be only his second run of his life. He is a good-moving colt who obviously handled deep ground at Doncaster and he'll handle the ground at Newbury.”
Is She Remarqu-able?
If the Greenham is hot, the G3 Fred Darling S. is equally intriguing despite not boasting a standout performer like Chaldean. Any one of the unexposed fillies in the line-up could burst on to the 1000 Guineas scene and one who is attracting notable support is Julian Richmond-Watson's smooth Salisbury novice winner Remarquee (GB) (Kingman {GB}). From the family of the Oaks heroine Look Here (GB) (Hernando {Fr}), the Ralph Beckett trainee has something to find on bare form but has abundant promise and will be doing all her best work at the finish. “She has done well this winter. She will need the run, but she is training well,” Beckett simply said.
Clarehaven Ambitions Clear
John and Thady Gosden are still looking for Guineas candidates and throw three at this with Godolphin's Yarmouth novice scorer Bridestones (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), a daughter of White Moonstone (Dynaformer), and Lady Bamford's Doncaster maiden winner Soul Sister (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) the ones with genuine potential. Amo Racing's golden spell could continue with Magical Sunset (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), who issued a five-length beating to another Gosden runner here in Fully Wet (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) in the course-and-distance Listed Radley S. in October. It is worth remembering that she beat Sakheer (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) on debut at Windsor in August, a point that Amo's racing manager Tom Pennington was ken to stress on Friday.
“To beat Sakheer on debut on quick ground at Windsor was impressive and she was a bit unlucky not to win the Goffs Million at the Curragh, she suffered some really bad interference at halfway. We thought she would run well at Newbury but we didn't think she would win by five lengths, so we were delighted by that. Richard [Hannon] is very happy with her and she has been showing him all the right signs at home.”
Making Up For Lost Time
In Newbury's opening G3 John Porter S., Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) bids to remind all what he is made of after a frustrating 2022 campaign. Denied a clear run at any stage by the lengthy dry spell, one of the previous season's leading lights is re-opposed by old foe Mojo Star (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) who also showed up only briefly as a 4-year-old.
“You cannot fault the horse at home. He retains all his old zest and he looks great,” Charlie Appleby said of Hurricane Lane. “We will know early in his 5-year-old campaign whether or not the Arc is a realistic target.”
In front of Hurricane Lane in the 2021 Derby but behind him in the Irish equivalent and St Leger, Amo Racing's older flagship Mojo Star split the staying giants Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in Royal Ascot's G1 Gold Cup on what was to be a notable sole visit to the races last term.
Trainer Richard Hannon said, “He's done plenty of work and been away to gallop, so should be pretty straight. But this is his first run in a while, so he's entitled to improve for it and we're working back from the Ascot Gold Cup. I'm very happy with him and while the trip is on the short side, this is a good place to kick off his season.”
Big Guns Re-Emerge At Navan
At Navan, the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Committed S. sees a star cast assemble in Ballydoyle's G1 Middle Park S. runner-up The Antarctic (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and G2 Futurity S.-winning 'TDN Rising Star' Aesop's Fables (Ire) (No Nay Never) and The Aga Khan's G2 Railway S. winner Shartash (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), with Royal Ascot's sprints on the horizon.
Starting the road to the G1 Gold Cup at that meeting are the impressive G3 Loughbrown S. scorer Emily Dickinson (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and fellow Aidan O'Brien-trained Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the Listed Vintage Crop S. which is often the launchpad for the stable's key stayers.
The 2023 Oaks contenders take in the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Salsabil S., with another from Rosegreen in the Naas maiden scorer Jackie Oh (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) looking set to start favourite. Out of Jacqueline Quest (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}), the Triermore Stud colour-bearer encounters Flaxman Stables' Foniska (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a daughter of the 2015 Salsabil winner Bocca Baciata (Ire) (Big Bad Bob {Ire}) from the same Jessica Harrington yard.
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