By Tom Frary
If it goes ahead, it's going to be tough at Doncaster on Saturday with the G1 Kameko Futurity Trophy being staged on ground that failed to survive an inspection for the Friday card. If there was a horse physically designed for such conditions, it is surely Godolphin's TDN Rising Star Ancient Wisdom (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}) who went through Newmarket's testing surface with relish when winning the G3 Autumn S. over this mile trip a fortnight earlier. Supplemented for this prize given how strongly he emerged from that experience, he bids to provide Charlie Appleby with a first renewal and that trainer will be praying this meeting gets the green light.
“We have been very pleased with how Ancient Wisdom came out of the Autumn Stakes,” he said. “It wasn't an immediate decision afterwards to come here, but we thought that we would keep an eye on his wellbeing with a view to potentially heading to Doncaster. We are happy with him going into this and he showed at Newmarket that a mile on testing conditions suited him, so he ticks a few boxes in a race where stamina is going to play a part. It's a competitive field and we are looking forward to seeing how he gets on.”
Aidan O'Brien has won this 11 times and four times since 2017 with some of his biggest names and relies on the unbeaten Diego Velazquez (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), who like last year's hero Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) comes here on the back of a win in Leopardstown's G2 Champions Juvenile S. Only raced on good ground so far, he is ridden by James Doyle due to the suspension of Ryan Moore and he said, “We haven't seen much of him, but the two starts we have done he looks very progressive and warms to the task. I don't think he's encountered ground like we'll have for this, so we'll just have to see.”
Fishdance Limited's impressive Listed Flying Scotsman S. winner Dancing Gemini (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) is up there with the two big guns on that course form and trainer Roger Teal is understandably confident. “He beat what was in front of him that day and he beat them in style, it was faster than the group two the next day. It was a good performance, he did it very convincingly,” he said. “It was pretty soft the day he won at Doncaster. It is not ideal for any horse, I don't think any trainer would choose the conditions if they could. The way he travels, he is quite light on his feet so hopefully he doesn't get bogged down too much.”
Of the unexposed members of the cast, Cayton Park Stud's homebred God's Window (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) is of obvious intrigue having won his maiden over course and distance at the St Leger meeting, but few lightly-raced types get involved in this race in recent years. Jockey Kieran Shoemark said, “He won his maiden nicely there on pretty soft ground on Leger day, so the ground is not a concern. He definitely appreciates a cut in the ground, but heavy ground is different altogether. He gave me a good feel on his debut, I felt when I crossed the line he was only just getting going and he ran all the way to the bottom of the hill.”
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