Last year's G1 Middle Park S. winner Supremacy (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) has wintered well, according to trainer Clive Cox, and will stick to sprints for his 3-year-old campaign, with the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot his key early season target. Cox said the G3 Pavilion S. at Ascot on Apr. 28 and the G2 Sandy Lane S. at Haydock on May 22 are under consideration as starting points for the colt.
“Supremacy will stay at six furlongs, so we're looking at the Pavilion, the normal sprinting route–with possibly the Sandy Lane en route to Royal Ascot and the Commonwealth,” said Cox. “He's wintered really well and looks very strong. I'm very pleased with him indeed.”
Supremacy, who is three for four, was also the eye-catching four-length winner of the G2 Richmond S. last summer.
Cox will likewise hold a strong hand for both the colts and fillies Guineas, with Marie McCartan's G2 Norfolk S. winner Nando Parrado (GB) and Paul and Clare Rooney's G2 Rockfel S. and G3 Prestige S. winner Isabella Giles (Ire) (Belardo {Ire}) targeting the first weekend in May at Newmarket. Nando Parrado, at 150-1, was the longest shot to ever win a 2-year-old race at Royal Ascot, and he upheld his form by finishing second in the G1 Prix Morny and G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere. Isabella Giles wrapped up the season, in which she went six for four, with a ninth-place finish over the soft going in the G1 Fillies' Mile.
“We'll be looking at one of the trials for [Nando Parrado]–but I very much intend to run him in the Guineas, all being well,” Cox said. “He does handle soft ground but won at Ascot on a quicker surface. I'm pleased with how he has done physically.
“He was a very able 2-year-old who has done well over the winter so I see no reason why he can't maintain that performance at the top level at three.”
Cox said he expects Isabella Giles to bounce back from her Fillies' Mile performance, which came at the end of a busy campaign.
“The filly has done very well too–she's done some nice work and is making good progress,” he said. “I think she had a busy enough time in the autumn, and we probably ran her once too many by the time of the Fillies' Mile, and she'd just gone off the boil.
“I would be very pleased with her now. She's a Group 2 winner at two, and her work is pleasing me at the moment to suggest we can look forward to what she does at three.
“It's really nice to have the conversations we're having at this stage, and we're looking forward to more of them hopefully as the season progresses.”
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