A review of the action from Saturday's meeting at Sandown Park plus free video replays.
Gosdens win Distaff - but with outsider
John and Thady Gosden took home the Coral Distaff, but it was with 25/1 outsider Spiritual rather than 9/4 favourite Regal Jubilee.
Second amongst useful company at York in May, the George Strawbridge-owned daughter of Invincible Spirit was bounced out the stalls and immediately sent to the front in the hands of Richard Kingscote.
She faced a strong challenge up the home straight as Regal Jubilee, Royal Ascot scorer Soprano and Ralph Beckett’s Indelible all took aim at the front-running filly.
However, she never backed down and responded with real enthusiasm to her rider’s urgings, beating off the opposition and coming home a length and a quarter ahead of Indelible. Soprano settled for third, while Regal Jubilee was unplaced in fourth as her stablemate took home the spoils.
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Kingscote said: “Her team have obviously done a lot of work to settle her and she has form on slow ground and it all worked out well on the day. She kept responding and it is very windy up the straight which may have stopped the others making too much ground on us. But as I say everything went really nicely for her and it was a good result.
“She’s obviously learning and is still lightly raced. She’s going the right way so there is no reason to think that she can’t come on for today. It’s very nice to ride decent horses for decent people and hopefully I will be lucky enough to get on another one.”
Charge compensation for Makarova
Makarova pounced late to go one better than 12 months ago and land a deserved victory in the Coral Charge. Ed Walker’s five-year-old has been a consistent performer in all of the major sprinting events but was registering her first success at Group level in the hands of Hector Crouch.
It looked destined to be the progressive Desperate Hero who would land the spoils when he went for home with just over a furlong to run, but he was reeled in by both Makarova and Andrew Balding’s Purosangue late in the day, with the former keeping on best to register a three-quarter length success at 9-2.
Makarova was cut to 10/1 from 16s by Paddy Power for the King George Stakes after the race and Walker confirmed that the Goodwood sprint assignment would be on the radar.
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He said: “This year she has been super consistent and she started off rated 67 or something. She was so laid back and never looked like a sprinter in the early days. She just kind of woke up and learned to sprint. She’s a legend.
“I wasn’t confident at all she would get there today and not once did I get excited watching it. But you knew she would come good and the only time she hasn’t come good is at Ascot with the blinkers on. In the blinkers she sat right on the tail of Big Evs at Ascot and paid the price at the end, it is the first time she has failed to finish off her race over five furlongs.
“I think they had the desired effect of sharpening her up a bit and today back in the cheekpieces she was back to her old self, just racing behind the bridle a bit and finishing strong.
“We’ve chanced our arm a lot and unfortunately she is only a Listed winner, so it is important we have now made her a Group Three winner and we will try and make her a Group Two winner if we can. She will probably go to the King George and maybe then another crack at the Nunthorpe or the race at the Curragh (Flying Five Stakes). After that there is the Prix de l’Abbaye and races like that. This will be her last season racing, especially now she is a Group Three winner. We’ll try pick up some more black type this season and then she will go home.”
Makarova swoops to win the Coral Charge
York still plan for Dream
Meanwhile, Adam West is keen to revert to type with Nunthorpe winner Live In The Dream after the 3/1 favourite could only finish fourth under more restrained tactics.
West said: “I think as much as it is painful to see today, I am delighted as it has answered a lot of questions for us. We have a Group One horse with a particular style of racing and since the Nunthorpe and Breeders’ Cup we haven’t had the confidence to do that for fear of setting ourselves up for a fall.
“If we ride like today we have only got a 90 (rated) horse and still a good horse but to be at his best he has to be super aggressive and if anything wants to go with us, let them try. Today we decided to let him decide what he wanted to do, Sean (Kirrane, jockey) sat on him and didn’t push him forward and didn’t pull him back. It was annoying we didn’t get any slipstream and if we were a couple over then it would have maybe just taken a bit of pressure off from the headwind.
“He’s run well and his class has got him fourth, but realistically that is not the style of racing he needs and we can absolutely pinpoint that for our next race whether that be Goodwood, Deauville or Nunthorpe. We just need him to rock and roll get his confidence in the first furlong and if anything wants to go with us then let them try.”
Sparkling return from Gift
Cicero’s Gift provided a reminder of his quality when making a winning return in the Coral Challenge.
Charlie Hills’ four-year-old was last seen suffering plenty of interference when finishing down the field in the 2023 St James’s Palace Stakes and was sent off 11/2 back down in handicap company after 382 days off the track. Nursed into the race by young weighing room star Billy Loughnane, the class of the colt came to the fore in the closing stages as he secured a half-length verdict over Karl Burke’s Holloway Boy.
Cicero’s Gift’s trainer was eyeing taking his charge to a conditions race at Goodwood next but now sights may have to be raised, with an ambitious tilt at the Sussex Stakes a possibility.
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“He’s a very special horse and on his second start he beat Docklands giving him 9lbs, he has tremendous ability,” said Hills. “It wasn’t really my plan to come here and there was a perfect race for him at Glorious Goodwood over one-mile-one, a conditions race for horses who have never won a Group or Listed race. My dad (former trainer Barry) rang me up and said it might be very hard to win that race first time, so why not give him a spin at Sandown?
“The fact he has gone and won is full testament to this horse. He’s not fully wound up and to win a race like this off top-weight is a tremendous achievement We’ve some money in the pot now so we might have to supplement him for something. The main thing is to keep him on something with a bit of cut in the ground. If the ground came up soft we could supplement him in the Sussex.
“I just can’t believe he has been able to win today with the work he has done, it astonishes me really.”
Cicero's Gift sweeps to the front at Sandown
Swindon gallops rivals into the ground
There was little doubt about the winner of the opening Coral Play “Racing-Super-Series” For Free Handicap as William Haggas’ Swindon refused to be passed as he galloped out for a length-and-a-half success. Sent off 11/2 in the hands of David Egan, he relished the return to seven furlongs as he made every yard of the running.
“I thought he would enjoy the ground today and he just got a nice easy lead, stayed the trip well and did it nicely,” said Maureen Haggas, assistant to her husband.
“He looked happy in front and they left him alone in front which was great. He’s a little bit of a worrier and a busy horse. He won as a two-year-old and looked a nice horse and has just taken his time to get back in the groove this time. He ran better last time and it was just a case of finding what suits him. I’m pretty sure he is in the sale this month so we will have to get him home, talk to the owners and see what they want to do.”
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