Sunday Service: Horses to follow from Doncaster Lincoln meeting

Take Courage from juvenile opener

It’s plainly ridiculous that the British Flat season starts with two days at Doncaster before a five-day blank ahead of Musselburgh’s valuable Queen’s Cup card next Saturday.

Never mind Cheltenham and the proposed tweaks to the Festival, I don’t see anything being done about this frustrating piece of race programming any time soon, but at least it allows us to fully take stock of what unfolded on Town Moor and jot down anything that could help arm us before the turf meetings start coming thick and fast.

If you missed Simon Holt’s feature with Dylan Cunha on these pages then I’d encourage you to revisit the piece as, while it’s a bit too late when it comes to the trainer’s 16/1 Brocklesby winner Zminiature, there’s a positive word for Asgard’s Captain who is out again at Newcastle on Monday, plus a few two-year-olds including Kodiac colt Just King High.

Zminiature, a son of Territories whose progeny continue to excel when the ground is testing, looks a bit more of an old school Brocklesby type in that he’s not the biggest, is clearly very precocious and seems highly likely to have a busy time of things over the next six months. Inevitably green when asked to quicken late on, it was hard to fault his attitude and you’d imagine the upwardly-mobile Cunha could be looking towards Chester and York in the not-too-distant future.

Of the beaten horses, 11/4 favourite Mystical Elegance received a bump over two furlongs out and is surely worth another chance having completely failed to pick up, while Amy Murphy’s Theatrically and the Adrian Keatley-trained Dukes Of Haather - by first-season sire Mohaather - were among those finishing quite well from off the pace without getting to the leaders.

However, given the conditions and the headwind which winning rider David Egan claimed was quite a significant factor in the Lincoln itself, I’m looking to keep Paddy’s Courage on side.

By one of my favourite sires in Dark Angel, Darryll Holland’s filly - a 5,000 guineas Book 3 purchase - was the fastest from the stalls and was allowed to bowl along by David Probert, who wasn’t hard on her when joined and passed by the winner around half a furlong from home.

She’ll have learnt loads from the initial outing and I think the run can be marked up on account of her doing the vast majority of the donkey work out in front.

Clear promise shown in consolation

The other two I’m adding to My Stable following Saturday’s action ran in the feature handicaps, the first of which being Spring Mile fourth Clear Angel.

Susan Corbett’s horse – another Dark Angel – ended up two places better than when sixth to Harswell Duke in the same race last season but could have gone a good deal closer had he not met so much traffic when initially looking for a run. The gap between Wildfell and Lion Tower took an age to open up and when it finally did Helter Skelter had got a clear break on the field and the eventual winner was out after him as the leader edged to his left.

Danny Muscutt did all he could on Clear Angel but was fighting a losing battle when the six-year-old came past Magic Memories late on, still two lengths adrift of third-placed Arthur’s Realm.

The race will no doubt be rated through those two, the front pair in a for a bit of a hike, and Clear Angel should be well capable of picking up some nice handicaps in the north this year, particularly on better ground as it's worth recalling he won at Wetherby on good going on his very next start after last year’s Spring Mile.

Bounce of the ball to fall way of Coles

The William Hill Lincoln was won in pretty impressive fashion in the end by Mr Professor, who had sluiced up on similar ground off just 5lb lower at Goodwood last September before holding his own in better company at Hamilton and Chelmsford before being put away for the winter.

It was the dream start for David Egan, Amo Racing and trainer Dominic Ffrench Davis, who looks like taking things up another level this year and even has an unraced Wootton Bassett colt (Padesha) in the Betfred Derby.

Amo got a healthy taste for Epsom last summer when King Of Steel found only Auguste Rodin too good in the Derby and their only other entry in the Classic at this stage is Roger Varian’s Mr Hampstead, a Galileo full-brother to Savethelastdance who chased home the well-regarded Meydaan (Simon & Ed Crisford) in a back-end maiden at Newcastle.

Mr Professor will find things tougher off his revised mark but was rated 100 at one point for Alice Haynes so has that bit of back-class which should see him remain competitive when the mud is flying.

The one to take from the Lincoln has to be Paul and Oliver Cole’s Thunder Ball, who did best of those who raced into the teeth of the breeze and basically just shaped liked he needed it.

He was resuming off 6lb higher than when seventh in the Cambridgeshire at the end of September, and when scoring at Goodwood the following month, and looks well up to landing something high-end in the handicap ranks this summer.

A soft-ground Royal Hunt Cup would be right up his street and connections ought to be working back from that now, having seen him run so well when fourth at 66/1 in last year’s Britannia.

Sunday scorer one to follow

I can’t say or read ‘1,000,000 guineas’ without getting the little finger involved ala Dr. Evil and the accompanying eyebrow was raised too as Godolphin’s Strong Opinion could manage only a laboured fourth as the even-money favourite in Sunday’s seven-furlong novice event.

Gelded over the winter, Charlie Appleby’s horse clearly has no chance of recouping that initial outlay paid to breeders Cheveley Park Stud at Tattersalls Book 1 in October 2022, but he’ll benefit from a step up in trip and will now go handicapping presumably.

I’m also wondering if the winner Balmacara might get a little underestimated in future engagements due to the favourite flopping. There was no fluke about this effort though for me and, given his extremely likeable attitude in the battle with head second Manhattan Mirage, he looks one about which to remain positive.

Gelded before he appeared on track and only making his debut on the Rowley Mile in early-November, the son of New Bay ran a promising race there in third behind subsequent Listed winner Zoum Zoum, and this comeback win shows he’s trained on as hoped.

I wouldn’t want to hazard a guess as to his introductory mark but anything south of 90 should give connections plenty of options as, on paper at least, he’s going to keep improving as he goes up in distance as a three-year-old.

The same owners (Mariscotti family) have won the valuable 10-furlong handicap at Epsom on Derby day three times in recent years with Drochaid (2017), Le Don De Vie (2019) and Swilcan Bridge (2022), and Balmacara could be winding his way towards that target over the next couple of months.

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