Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes report and replay: Brilliant Vandeek stays unbeaten

The brilliant son of Havana Grey was stretching his unbeaten run to four and tracked River Tiber, who chased him home in the Prix Morny last time, through the first half of the contest.

Coming down the Dip he was asked to quicken past him and did so in a matter of strides. The 5/4 favourite was never in danger from that point, devouring the rising ground under James Doyle to win by two-and-a-quarter lengths.

Task Force (15/2) came through to snatch second spot from River Tiber (11/4) in the dying strides.

The winning rider told ITV Racing: “It was super. He’s shown all the qualities you need in a potential champion. He’s shown he can do it on soft ground, fast ground and a variety of tracks. He’s super smooth. It didn’t go entirely to plan. We kind of missed the break and didn’t jump all that well so I used a bit early to veer across and track Ryan (Moore on River Tiber).

“I had him as a bit of a target as I wasn’t convinced the ones drawn around us were the ones to be tracking so it panned out OK but buy zooming across I kind of set him alight a bit. He took a bit of managing early but he’s just a big ball of speed.

“When the gap came he shot through it and I’m so pleased for everyone. He’s quick, a very fast horse.”

Dewhurst run not out of the question for Vandeek

“He’s beautiful with a wonderful temperament and all of the talent to match,” said co-trainer Simon Crisford. “He’s very fast and very good, but the way he was walking around the paddock with his ears pricked, half asleep, is a great testament to his whole preparation from his breeder through to his preparation as a breeze-up horse. That race took a lot of winning today, the Prix Morny was an exceptional race. When he hits the front he does tend to idle a bit, he looks around a bit, but I couldn’t see anything running him down so I was pretty hopeful in the last 100 yards.”

Of the chances of stepping up to a mile the trainer added: “I don’t know whether we need to try to do that, he’s a champion over this distance and I think we’re going to let the horse tell us as much as he can and we’ll take it from there. He’s a tall, leggy horse and he stands over a lot of ground, he could easily go further.”

Vandeek holds an entry for the Dewhurst back at Newmarket on October 14, and Crisford will be guided by the horse in making a decision regarding his involvement.

He said: “Never say never, I think the person that will decide whether he comes back for the Dewhurst is the horse himself. If he tells us he wants to come here then we will. We came here pretty confident, we knew we had something special. He’s been working exceptionally well and he’s been such a kind horse to go with it, everything was great.”

Task Force sparks Guineas dream

Trainer Ralph Beckett said of the runner-up Task Force: “I’m really pleased. He is a horse that we have crept here with as you can see he is not the finished article by any means. This is a horse that has done it all on his own as we have not been keen to turn the screw on him.

“I think it is unlikely he will show up in the Dewhurst, but I’m really pleased with what he has done today. He has split two very good horses so I’m delighted. He handled it very well today, better than I thought he would. He learnt again today. I’d say on the back of today I’d be keen to turn up here on the first weekend in May and you might not see him again until then.”

Double delight for KHK Racing

True Cyan completed a good day for her owners KHK Racing Limited when running out the impressive winner on the Blanford Bloodstock Maiden Fillies’ Stakes.

Having seen Vandeek power to victory in the Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes earlier on the card there was more success for Shaikh Khalid’s racing operation after the Roger Varian-trained daughter of No Nay Never hit the back of the net on her debut.

Making rapid headway late on the 13/2 chance soon put the seven-furlong contest to bed once sent on by David Egan before scoring by a length and a half.

Varian said: “She has won nicely. I thought she would run nicely as she has really clicked into gear the last fortnight. I said to the owners if she finishes in the first six and shows promise we would be happy, but she has done better than that.

“We will see how she comes out of this race as to whether we go for a novice or the Oh So Sharp Stakes, but that does come quite quickly, and we have done that before and they have not backed up. She has not just won, but won really well. We will look forward to her next year.”

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