John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on Thursday.
Flann Sunna to remain unbeaten
The Richmond Stakes (14:25) at Goodwood brings together ten winning colts, four of whom met in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot last month. Adaay of Scarlett fared best of them in second ahead of Cut A Dash and Night In Vegas who finished a close-up fourth and fifth, with Jaan Ki Tukri in ninth. Adaay of Scarlett has since finished second again in the three-runner July Stakes at Newmarket, and of those who contested the Coventry, Cut A Dash and Night In Vegas make most appeal, both of them meeting with their first defeats at Ascot.
But there are others in the Richmond who haven’t been tried so highly yet, and the one with the most potential is the only unbeaten runner, Flann Sunna, winner of both his starts for Simon & Ed Crisford. His sire Blue Point has some good two-year-olds this year, notably the unbeaten July Stakes winner Inner City Blues and the Coventry third Royal Heritage, and Flann Sunna’s form already rates on a par with those two.
He was a decisive winner on his debut at Windsor in June when beating a field of other newcomers and then followed up by a still wider margin, just under five lengths, in a conditions race at Ascot earlier this month, sealing it with an instant turn of foot and quickening clear of the other joint-favourite Mysterious Times in impressive fashion. As well as the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag, Flann Sunna earned the ‘Sectional Timing’ flag. Heading the Timeform ratings and with further improvement in the offing, he’s sure to take plenty of beating stepping up in grade.
Bay of Brilliance another winner from the Derby?
In what has been one of the hottest and driest of summers, it seems increasingly bizarre that just last month we had the first soft-ground Derby of the century. Winner Christmas Day clearly relished those conditions in contrast to others who didn’t perform on the day and there has been no shortage of good winners coming out of the race. The latest was Item in last Saturday’s York Stakes, while Benvenuto Cellini turned the tables on his stablemate in the Irish Derby and runner-up Maltese Cross just got the better of another Derby runner, Ancient Egypt, in the Grand Prix de Paris.
Mention of Maltese Cross brings us to Bay of Brilliance whose form is closely tied in with that of the Derby second. Bay of Brilliance briefly nosed into second at Epsom himself before getting tired and eventually finishing a couple of places behind Maltese Cross. But there had been very little between the pair of them in the Lingfield Derby Trial the time before when they pulled clear of the rest, Bay of Brilliance battling well to go down by a neck.
Bay of Brilliance has suffered a heavy defeat in the German Derby since Epsom, also on soft ground, but Hector Crouch looked after him once his chance had gone and the Gordon Stakes (15:00) back under firmer conditions and down in Group 3 company, gives ‘Hot Trainer’ Ralph Beckett’s colt a chance to get back on track.
Friendly Soul the value in the Nassau
Only five go to post for Goodwood’s Thursday highlight, the Nassau Stakes (15:35) where Aidan O’Brien’s Diamond Necklace puts her unbeaten record on the line on her first start against older rivals. She’s clearly a smart filly and having won the Prix Marcel Boussac in impressive fashion on her final start at two, she has returned across the Channel to win both the fillies’ classics in France this year. She was the pick on form in the Prix de Diane at Chantilly last time and duly landed the odds stepping up in trip, though had to dig deep to see off outsider Pink Panthera by a short neck.
Diamond Necklace looks a worthy favourite to give her trainer a third consecutive win in a race he has won six times in all, but whether she deserves to be quite so short in the betting is another matter. After all, she has little in hand on Timeform weight-adjusted ratings over the two smart mares in the field, Friendly Soul and See The Fire. The latter was only beaten a neck by Opera Singer in this race two years ago before finishing a more remote third from a flag start on a thundery afternoon last year. She returned in good form before being outclassed in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and could well bounce back here.
However, the value to beat the favourite is Friendly Soul for John & Thady Gosden who have the ‘Hot Trainer’ flag. She ended her three-year-old campaign with a Group 1 win in the Prix de l’Opera but had to miss the whole of last year.
Friendly Soul had an unfortunate experience when putting her foot in a hole in her comeback run at Haydock in May but shaped as if retaining all her ability on her latest start in the Duke of Cambridge Stakes at Royal Ascot. Shuffled back to last early on and then meeting more trouble later in the race, she finished well for third behind the subsequent Falmouth Stakes winner Blue Bolt, though would have taken second with a bit more luck, earning the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag. She looks to have a big chance going back up in trip.
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