John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on Wednesday.
Three points of interest
Three-year-olds can reclaim Upavon
Salisbury’s card features a couple of listed races, and while only three two-year-olds have been declared for the Stonehenge Stakes, there’s a much healthier field of nine for the Upavon Fillies’ Stakes over a mile and a quarter (16:30). The last two renewals have gone to a four- and a five-year-old, but three-year-olds had won the four previous runnings and members of the classic generation have been successful more often than not this century. Among the recent three-year-olds to be successful is Alpinista in 2020, winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe two years later.
Revoir sets the standard in this year’s race. She had her stamina stretched when sixth in the Oaks but had gone very close in a listed race at Newbury prior to that and wasn’t discredited when returned to listed company at York last time when she would have benefitted from a stronger gallop. Wujjood has a lot more improvement to find, but she’s had just the three starts in novices, winning at Pontefract in June, and finished a long way clear of the rest when runner-up to Consent at Newbury last time on her first try at a mile and a quarter.
Pick of the three-year-olds, though, is the hat-trick seeking Azaniya for Owen Burrows. She had a couple of runs on the all-weather late last year but has left those efforts behind this summer, getting off the mark by seven and a half lengths in a novice at Newmarket and then following up in a handicap at Windsor last time when stepping up to today’s trip. That suited her well, as she got the better of Princess Rascal by three quarters of a length with a dozen lengths back to Nanino Niyati who looks one of the outsiders here. Azaniya can win again with further progress on the cards.
Ger Lyons has strong hand in Gowran listed contest
Aidan O’Brien has been hard to beat in Gowran’s Hurry Harriet Stakes (18:35), winning the fillies’ listed contest for the last two years and seven times in all. However, his pair in this year’s contest, Easy Mover and Sweet Chariot, both have a bit to find stepping up in trip. The eleven runners are split between just four stables – Joseph O’Brien, Dermot Weld and Ger Lyons all saddle more than one runner too, with Lyons looking to hold a particularly strong hand.
Pick of his trio looks to be five-year-old Naomi Lapaglia who heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings and is the mount of James Ryan. It’s been a while since her last win which came in Britain when she was trained by Richard Spencer, but this represents a drop in class from the races she’s been contesting in Ireland this year. She can be excused her last run, but her penultimate start, when third behind Porta Fortuna and One Look in the Lanwades Stud Stakes at the Curragh, reads very well. That was over a mile, but she should prove at least as effective over this longer trip.
Naomi Lapaglia’s main threat could come from her younger stablemate Continuite who landed the odds in a maiden at Gowran last time and looks open to further improvement over this longer trip as a daughter of Frankel from a very good Juddmonte family. Lyons’ other runner Madam Celeste has some of the best form on offer, having had a break since winning another fillies’ listed event over this course and distance in May.
Pearla’s form looking very strong
‘Hot Trainer’ William Haggas won Kempton’s fillies’ novice (18:45) last year with Sea Just In Time who, coincidentally, is another of the runners in the Upavon Fillies’ Stakes at Salisbury, though is now with David O’Meara. Haggas has an excellent chance of winning the Kempton contest again with Wathnan Racing’s twice-raced filly Pearla.
She was beaten just a head on her debut in a maiden at Newmarket’s Guineas meeting in a race where all the other fillies in the frame have since shown useful form, including fourth-placed Understudy who was runner-up in the Ribblesdale Stakes. Pearla was then second again in another maiden at Haydock later in May which proved an equally strong race. She was no match for the Godolphin winner Spirited Style, but that one followed up with a cosy success in a listed race at Newmarket, while third-placed Silent Love, a stable companion of the winner who had also finished a place behind Pearla on her debut, has also won a Newmarket listed race since, the Chalice Stakes.
Both those Godolphin fillies were successful over a mile and a half and there’s every reason to think Pearla will be equally suited by stepping up to that trip here. By Sea The Stars out of the smart French filly Traffic Jam who won over further still, Pearla, who holds an entry in the Fillies And Mares Stakes at Ascot in the autumn, will be hard to beat here and could well be destined to pick up some black type herself after this.
More from Sporting Life
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
