Leading analyst Mark Howard has five horses to add to your My Stable trackers following eye-catching runs at Royal Ascot.
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The leading trainer for the week John Gosden has won the Cambridgeshire at Newmarket on a handful of occasions with four of those victories coming from the Classic generation, including subsequent Group One winners Halling and Lord North.
It is early days to be thinking in terms of the first leg of the Autumn double but it is not beyond the realms of possibility that ENEMY could develop into an ideal candidate for the nine furlongs cavalry charge.
Bought for a hefty €420,000 as a yearling, the son of Muhaarar has yet to race beyond a mile but his pedigree and running style suggests he is crying out for further. A half-brother to Group One middle-distance winner Chicquita and Magic Wand, he was narrowly beaten on his return to action at Yarmouth this month before contesting the Britannia Stakes at Ascot on Thursday.
Held up by Oisin Murphy, he couldn’t match the burst of speed of impressive scorer Khaloosy but the Qatar Racing owned colt stayed on to finish fourth. His two previous runs had come on fast ground and it is unlikely he relished the testing ground on day three of the Royal fixture. I suspect his long-term future lies in Pattern company but there is a big handicap to be won with Enemy en route.
For many the run of OUZO in the Silver Royal Hunt Cup will go down as a disappointment having run with such promise at Newmarket’s Guineas meeting ten days earlier. Richard Hannon’s four year old could only finish eighth and never threatened having been pushed along from an early stage.
However, it was his finishing effort which caught the eye implying a step up in distance may not go amiss. Bred to stay further, his dam was placed in the Italian Oaks over eleven furlongs and his half-sister Don’t Dili Dali was third in the Group Three Dahlia Stakes over a mile and one. The most baffling aspect of the run was the fact he never travelled early on under Ryan Moore but once pulled off the rail, he ran on strongly and was only five and a half lengths in arrears of Sir Busker.
He, too, could develop into a Cambridgeshire contender given his form figures on the Rowley Mile (5542). Either way, the son of Charm Spirit can collect a good prize later this year.
Charlie Appleby returned home empty handed with no winners from fourteen runners over the five days. The Godolphin trainer will have been naturally disappointed with the defeat of Pinatubo in the St James’s Palace Stakes and will be seeking compensation for his star juvenile from last year in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood.
Despite the fact stablemate ROYAL CRUSADE was only sixth in the Group One Diamond Jubilee Stakes on Friday, there are reasons to believe the Shamardal colt will be a force in Pattern sprints later this summer. Fast ground appears to be the key and, granted such conditions, he can make an impact in races such as the Group Three Hopeful Stakes at Newmarket or Group Three Hackwood Stakes at Newbury during August.
Sixth behind Golden Horde, he was behind early on following a sluggish start but made smooth headway with two to run. His effort flattened out inside the final furlong suggesting William Buick may have made his move too soon. The soft ground didn’t help either. Runner-up at Group Two level as a juvenile, he is a talented colt who will show his true worth once encountering his optimum conditions.
Few trainers will have left Ascot more frustrated than David O’Meara following the agonising defeats of Agincourt (Duke of Cambridge) and Summerghand (Wokingham). The former jump jockey will have taken plenty of encouragement from the performance of SHELIR on the opening day of the Royal meeting, though.
The gelded son of Dark Angel was having only his second start for his new connections having been purchased for €70,000 last autumn. Contesting the reinstated Buckingham Palace Handicap over seven furlongs, the four year old stayed on well in fifth off a mark of 97. Beaten a handful of lengths, he won over a mile for his former handler Dermot Weld, in addition to winning at Listed level over seven furlongs.
On this evidence, he will be suited by a return to further and one can envisage him developing into a prime candidate for the valuable Clipper Logistics Handicap over a mile at York’s Ebor Festival, a race O’Meara has won in the past with Mont Ras (2013) and Firmament (2016). With only eight runs to his name, Shelir has plenty more to offer.
Sir Michael Stoute remains leading all-time trainer at Royal Ascot with 81 winners but the head of Freemason Lodge drew a blank from his seven runners this time around. Dream Of Dreams and First Receiver were beaten half a length or less in their respective races and, while SOFFIKA failed to trouble the judge in the Sandringham Handicap, she shaped as though she will improve significantly from her seasonal pipe-opener, especially when upped in trip.
Having her first outing since finishing runner-up in the Group Three Sweet Solera Stakes at Newmarket last August, she is by Zoffany but out of a mare who produced Dubka, who won four times over twelve furlongs and was runner-up in a Group Three for Stoute over a mile and six. Therefore she is almost certainly going to appreciate trips beyond a mile.
Towards the rear under Ryan Moore, she kept on through beaten horses to finish seventh behind Onassis. Despite the fact her older sibling was effective on slow ground, Soffika showed a good level of form on a faster surface last year. Therefore she is of real interest once tackling ten furlongs on a sound terrain.
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