Newmarket Friday review: Reports, replays and free video replays including Prosperous Voyage beating Inspiral

Prosperous's Falmouth after Inspiral flop

Prosperous Voyage caused an almighty upset in the Group 1 Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket as the 16/1 chance beat 1/7 favourite Inspiral.

John & Thady Gosden's Cheveley Park-owned filly was sent off at prohibitive odds after looking a machine in the Coronation Stakes last time out where she beat Prosperous Voyage by nine lengths.

Ralph Beckett's filly turned around that form, though, with a sustained run down the centre of the track, ensuring a one-and-three-quarter length defeat over the hot favourite.

Inspiral was expected to give the Dettori-Gosden axis a Group 1 as their short-lived sabbatical came to an end this week, but she wasn't travelling with any zest from a long way out.

The race also signalled a first Group 1 win for jockey Rob Hornby.

Straight-forward success

He said: “The key really to her is a straight track. Around a bend, she scraped home in a maiden at Epsom and got beat at Chester (last year), but when she’s run on a straight track, she’s run her race.

“Maybe Inspiral didn’t turn up today, maybe she did bounce – there’s lots of maybes, but this filly ran her race and that’s all that really matters, if you’re me anyway.

“The Sun Chariot is the obvious race for her. We will keep bringing her back to Newmarket.”

It was consolation for Hornby after he missed the winning ride on the stable’s Westover in the Irish Derby, with owners Juddmonte opting to give the mount to Irish champion Colin Keane at the Curragh.

Beckett added: “It was a good ride today. There’s a certain amount of irony in that (owners) Andrew Rosen and Marc Chan are close friends of Frankie, but that’s the way it goes – it’s a horse race.

“I’m delighted for the filly as much as anything else and the rest of us are all just in her space.

“He gave her a lovely ride, he’s done it before, he did it in France last year on Scope. It’s not that we lack faith in our rider, it’s just we have three jockeys – we don’t have a stable jockey we have jockeys that ride work regularly – and if an owner wants a different jockey, then that’s their prerogative.”

Beckett admitted he had not gone to Newmarket expecting to beat Inspiral, but felt the race was the correct fit for his filly.

He explained: “I don’t think we ran here thinking we would turn the favourite over, more that it was the right race for her.

“She didn’t act in the Coronation Stakes because she’s not as effective round a bend, we know that now.

“Sometimes it’s not about whether you think you can win or not, it’s what is right for the horse and today was.

“Rob has become an integral part of the operation. Whether he rides all the horses or not is not the be-all and end-all. He will ride what we think is right.”

'Flat' Inspiral will go again

For his part, John Gosden felt Inspiral had “run flat” in the wake of her Ascot comeback.

He said: “You don’t normally come here after a big win at Ascot, but she hadn’t run all year.

“I think she’s run a little flat. Yes the ground is quick enough, I’d agree with that, but I think it’s more to do with a huge performance at Ascot. Having run only the once it made sense to come here.

“It can happen, when they run at Ascot and then come here, especially given she hadn’t run since the previous October.

“We’ll freshen her up and go again. She seems happy enough.”

David Cleary - Timeform view

The Falmouth Stakes might have looked something of a formality beforehand, but it produced one of the upsets of the season, 7/1-on Inspiral beaten by Prosperous Voyage, a filly that she'd got the better of three times previously. Prosperous Voyage clearly produced the best effort of her career, though the form wouldn't compare with that Inspiral had shown in landing the Coronation Stakes.

The Falmouth was very much a case of Inspiral running below form. She was only briefly in the paddock, sent early to post, but she seemed to be carrying little spare flesh. It's clear too from the way that she performed that she may well have gone backwards from Ascot; after all, reappearing there wouldn't have been plan A.

Although all looked well two furlongs out in the Falmouth, the turn of foot that had been so decisive from off the pace in the Coronation was missing from much closer to the lead. Inspiral got to the front, but pestered by Sandrine before Prosperous Voyage rallied to lead again, winning going away.

Sandrine, beaten convincingly in the Guineas and Coronation, was a pretty close third, further indication of how far below form the favourite was.

Mawj makes most of Duchess of Cambridge opportunity

Mawj survived a stewards’ inquiry to be crowned the winner of the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket.

Second in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot, Mawj was sent off a 4/1 shot to go one better for trainer Saeed bin Suroor and jockey Ray Dawson in this Group Two affair.

The daughter of Exceed And Excel was quickly into stride and was still bowling along in front when Lezoo mounted her challenge a furlong from home.

Mawj drifted across the track slightly under Dawson’s drive, giving eventual second and 15/8 favourite Lezoo a bump, but the Godolphin filly asserted again to prevail by half a length.

While the stewards had a look at the incident, they judged the interference did not merit any change to the finishing order.

Bin Suroor said: “I spoke to my jockey and he believed he won fair and square.

“The filly had been doing good and she is improving. I know she went left a little, but she won well.

“She is improving all the time so I think we can look at the Cheveley Park now.”

He went on: “She’s a tiny filly, but she’s always had class. When she won at Newmarket first time she did so after just one piece of work in her life.

“After that she was second at Ascot behind a good filly (Meditate) and today she has won again. I think she can get seven furlongs.

“We’ll keep options open, but all trainers think when they have a small filly they need to make the most of it.

“She may grow, I hope she does and sometimes fillies change as three-year-olds, but the Cheveley Park will be a nice race for her and then we’ll take her to Dubai.”

Value Bet followers clean up with Soapy

The Charlie and Mark Johnston-trained Soapy Stevens - tipped by our Matt Brocklebank at 12/1 in the Value Bet column - swooped late to grab the glory in a rough renewal of the bet365 Trophy.

Runners were stacked up in behind the pace-setting Mandoob, with plenty struggling to find a run, but Franny Norton managed to weave his way through and put the 11/1 winner’s head in front on the line.

Red Flyer, a 100/1 outsider, was a short-head back in second with the same distance to Zoffee in third. Candleford was the 3/1 favourite but struggled to find space from the rear and finished unplaced.

However, the race was marred by injuries to Summer’s Knight and the winner’s stablemate Tribal Art.

Mark Johnston said: “He’s a horse we’ve always been unsure about regarding his trip, but we came here hopeful.

“You can never be confident in races like this, but he pulled it out where it mattered.

“I wouldn’t know about plans for the rest of the season, that tends to be Charlie’s domain, he knows the programme book inside out so I leave it to him."

New London enters St Leger equation

New London earned quotes for the Cazoo St Leger with a dominant display in the bet365 Handicap.

Charlie Appleby’s colt was last seen being sent off an odds-on favourite for the Chester Vase 65 days ago, where he ran no sort of race behind Aidan O’Brien’s Changingoftheguard, who went on to be fifth in the Derby and won the King Edward VII Stakes.

Sent off favourite again, but this time a 6/4 chance, he travelled nicely in behind Swilcan Bridge before bounding clear to win by three lengths, hitting the line strong at 10 furlongs.

Paddy Power cut the winner to 12/1 from 16s for the final Classic, with Coral more impressed in going 10/1.

“He’s bounced back. After the Chester race we completely lost him, he’d gone in his coat and everything,” said Appleby.

“In the spring we had some big races in mind given the way he won at the Craven meeting and maybe now we can go back to thinking along those lines.

“William was delighted with him today back on a sound surface. For whatever reason after the Vase he wasn’t right, but off the back of that we can maybe look at the Voltigeur at York, something like that.

“He needs a sound surface, we were thinking soft didn’t suit at Chester. William mooted the Leger, it was only mooted but I’m sure that will now be the headline! More importantly we’ll look towards the Voltgieur and that will tell us if he’s a St Leger horse.

“He’ll stay, he’s out of a Monsun mare, but at that time of year the question mark would be ground.”

Epictetus looks one to follow after stylish start

Epictetus made a very pleasing winning debut in the Weatherbys British EBF Maiden Stakes.

Owned by George Strawbridge, the Kingman colt is out of another Group One winner in Thistle Bird so is certainly bred to be good.

Sent off at 11/1, he was clearly not expected by too many to make his first outing a winning one – but could be spotted always travelling smoothly for Martin Harley.

Another newcomer, Andrew Balding’s Leadman, came out of the pack to challenge in the Juddmonte colours, but John and Thady Gosden’s youngster went clear to win by a length and a quarter.

“I was very pleased. He’s done nothing at home bar work on the bridle with another horse,” said Gosden senior, whose charge earned quotes ranging from 20/1 to 40/1 for the 2000 Guineas.

“He was ready for a race, but I’m overjoyed because he was very professional and Martin gave him a lovely ride.

“Mr Strawbridge bought the mare at the Rothschild dispersal and she was immensely talented, a Group One winner, and to go to Kingman and get a horse like that straight away, it’s all about the owner-breeder really.

“He’s not been on the grass yet so it was very pleasing. I think we’ll look for another novice before setting our sights too high and I think he’ll be very comfortable over a mile.”

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