Sun Chariot Stakes preview: Rob Hornby excited about ride on Prosperous Voyage

The Ralph Beckett-trained pair - along with Andrew Balding’s Alcohol Free - have been instrumental in seeing the wider quality of Hornby’s rides taking a massive step up this year, for Prosperous Voyage went desperately close in the QIPCO 1000 Guineas before providing him with a first domestic Group 1 success in the Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket, and Westover won the Classic Trial at Sandown before looking unlucky not to finish at least a place closer in the Derby.

The 27-year-old rider was not on board Westover for the colt’s subsequent win in the Irish Derby, or for his poor run at Ascot in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth QIPCO Stakes, but his dignified acceptance of connections’ reasons for replacing him in those races is now reaping its reward.

Reflecting on his new status and his prospects this weekend, he said: “It’s another huge weekend for me to look forward to and one that I’m honoured to be part of. It was a real career highlight for me when I won the Falmouth Stakes on Prosperous Voyage, especially as she had been the bridesmaid to Inspiral twice and then again to Cachet in the QIPCO 1000 Guineas, and I’m delighted to get back on Westover, who is a horse I know really well and who I adore for what he has done for me.

“As a jockey I want to keep pushing forward and stepping up to the next level, and both horses have given me some very special days and special experiences. You need rides like this in order to go out there and prove yourself at the top level, and it’s been noticeable since I won my first Group 1 on Scope in last year’s Prix Royal-Oak that I’ve been getting on a lot of nicer horses.

“It’s a joy going into the yards in the morning to ride out on these top horses and then to go on to partner them in championship races. I’m aware of how lucky I’ve been and what a fortunate position I’m in now. It’s all crucial experience for me.”

The Royal Bahrain Sun Chariot Stakes, run as a Group 1 only since 2004, will be the last race in the QIPCO British Champions Series before QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday 15th October. It has attracted a quality field of nine, headed by last year’s winner Saffron Beach, another QIPCO 1000 Guineas runner-up who has since added a Royal Ascot win and a second Group 1 to an impressive CV.

Hornby does not underestimate Jane Chapple-Hyam’s filly but feels that Prosperous Voyage, who he has ridden in all of her ten starts, has plenty going for her too.

He said: “Prosperous Voyage really deserved her Group 1 win in the Falmouth, and it was very special for me too as it was my first in England. It was the first of a busy couple of days for me at Newmarket, and two days I’ll never forget, as the day after that I won the July Cup on Alcohol Free.

“It was a combination of things when she was below par at Deauville last time. The ground was a factor, but it can be difficult taking fillies abroad anyway. She’s had a bit of a break since then to freshen up, and when I rode her last week, she seemed in really good form.

“The straight track is crucial I think and the stiff mile on both Newmarket courses plays to her strengths as she’s a strong stayer at a mile. I’ve always felt she would stay a mile and a quarter, and when there are no stamina concerns you can ride them accordingly. It will also definitely be good to get her back against her own sex again, as her best runs have all been against fillies.”

He added: “On official ratings I think we are only 2lb behind Saffron Beach, who is a very talented filly and has done Jane and her team proud, so on our best form we ought to have a good chance. There are other dangers in there too, but Prosperous Voyage is in tremendous order and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Saffron Beach is bidding to become the third multiple winner of the race following Free Guest in 1984 and 1985, when the Sun Chariot was a Group 2 run over a mile and a quarter, and Sahpresa, who won three times in succession between 2009 and 2011. Her credentials are hard to fault, and she is a worthy favourite.

Like Prosperous Voyage, she excels on a straight track and is particularly effective at Newmarket, where she also won her maiden and the Group 3 Oh So Sharp Stakes at the age of two. Worryingly for the opposition, her trainer believes she has come on again since her second in the Matron Stakes at Leopardstown.

Chapple-Hyam, who has just eight more weeks in which to enjoy her stable star before she heads to the sales, said: “She enjoys going down two miles down the road, rather than getting a train or a ferry, and I think she’s improved again going into the Sun Chariot. The scales don’t lie and she has put on another four kilos since she went to Leopardstown. She’s more powerful to look at now, and the feedback from her riders has been very positive too.

“There’s some rain forecast for Friday, but the ground won’t be like Leopardstown, where she couldn’t extend and stretch like she normally does but still ran a good race to be second in another Group 1.”

The filly will leave a big hole at Abington Place when she has gone, but the Sun Chariot is unlikely to be her last race. Chapple-Hyam confirmed: “She’s in the QEII at Ascot on QIPCO British Champions Day, although she’d have to win easily on Saturday to go there, and we’ve had one eye all year on the Breeders’ Cup, which is why we’ve spaced her races and missed the Falmouth for example. We’ve also entered her for the Hong Kong Mile in case whoever buys her wants to run her there.”

Dermot Weld’s Homeless Songs, who also holds an entry in Sunday’s Prix de la Foret, is the other main contender on form, and she would be hard to beat if she were to return to the level she showed when a deeply impressive five-and-a-half-length winner from the subsequent Oaks winner Tuesday in the Irish 1000 Guineas at The Curragh in May.

However, having missed the mid-summer fillies’ highlights she finished two and a half lengths behind Saffron Beach in fourth when a hot favourite for the Matron Stakes. She has something to prove again now, but the addition of a tongue strap here could well prove significant.

Sir Michael Stoute’s Sandown Group 2 winner Lights On, Hughie Morrison’s Chantilly Group 3 winner Mrs Fitzherbert and Kevin Ryan’s Qatar Nassau Stakes fourth Fonteyn all add further depth to a good field, but the ante-post markets much prefer John and Thady Gosden’s supplementary entry Laurel, who lines up alongside her stable’s Sandown Listed winner Grande Dame.

Laurel is a choicely-bred Juddmonte Farms filly who has impressed in novice events at Newmarket and Kempton on her only racecourse appearances. Gosden senior has recognised that the step up to Group 1 is “a huge leap” for her, and admitted it was “what you might call a very bold supplement”. However, there is little to lose and much to gain with such a late starter, who is likely to remain in training at four.

French-trained outsider By All Means, a Group 3 second to tough-as-teak Oscula last time, completes the field. She is bidding to follow Sahpresa’s hat-trick and wins by Siyouma and Esoterique as the sixth French-trained winner in the last 14 runnings, but she would need another big step forward.

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