After the bombshell dropped by connections of Luxembourg (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) on Friday, the door to the Epsom Derby has been well and truly kicked open and suddenly, the quintet lining up for Saturday's Listed SBK Derby Trial at Lingfield have a clearer path to the Blue Riband. Godolphin's Walk of Stars (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) is of obvious interest in the race in which the fellow Charlie Appleby-trained Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) met with defeat 12 months ago and he is equipped for it, being a descendant of the blue-hen Magnificient Style whose son Percussionist (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) took this in 2004. He followed Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) in winning Newbury's 10-furlong Dubai Duty Free Golf World Cup British EBF Conditions S. Apr. 17, but the two rivals he faced that day have subsequently dented the form. Appleby is keen to speed up his education.
“He has done a lot of his racing on conventional tracks, so we wanted to challenge him a bit more,” he said, referring to the Epsom-like terrain of this circuit.
Zechariah Has His Say
Aquis Farm and Manton Park's Zechariah (Ire) (Nathaniel {Ire}) beat Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}) convincingly in the Haynes, Hanson & Clark Conditions S. at Newbury in September and he is up markedly in trip having run sixth in the G3 Craven S. at Newmarket Apr. 13.
Trainer Martyn Meade admits that Guineas trial was the wrong direction to take. “He's doing everything right and I think you can put the Craven to one side, as that probably wasn't the right race to run him in,” he said of the grandson of the 2006 GI E. P. Taylor S. and GI Del Mar Oaks heroine Arravale (Arch).
Oaks Clues In Abundance
Naas stages the G3 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Blue Wind S., with Moyglare Stud's Curragh maiden winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Eclat de Lumiere (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) taking on Takaya Shimakawa's Tosen Lydia (Ire) (The Gurkha {Ire}) and Ballydoyle's Dundalk Apr. 12 scorer Lily Pond (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in a fascinating tussle between three unbeaten fillies. While the runners are entering the stalls, the winner of Lingfield's Listed SBK Oaks Trial will be coming back in and who is to say, after a 100% week at Chester, that it won't be Aidan O'Brien in the headlines again with the Apr. 25 Naas maiden winner Emily Dickinson (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}). The daughter of Chicquita (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) has a similar profile to her relative Magic Wand (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) at this stage of her career and has enticed Ryan Moore away from Ireland.
A Bargain Buy?
Shadwell opted to sell the unraced Rogue Millennium (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) for just 35,000gns at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale and that is already looking like a golden ticket after The Rogues Gallery's descendant of the legendary Doff the Derby won the same Wetherby novice on Apr. 24 which in 2021 was contested by Loving Dream (GB) (Gleneagles {Ire}) and this race's winner Sherbet Lemon (Lemon Drop Kid).
Trainer Tom Clover will be hoping she can “do a Makfi” and prove one that slipped through the net. “You'll ask her and she finds for you and it's hard to know how much is there,” he said.
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