Timeform highlight some notable performances and ratings updates from the Ebor Festival last week.
Derby runners shine on Tuesday
While firm ground has prevailed for the big meetings this summer, at least since the Derby downpour, conditions were back on the soft side at York last week, with Timeform calling the ground ‘good to soft’ for each day bar Wednesday when further rain made it genuinely soft.
Tuesday’s Juddmonte International was widely billed beforehand as a match between last year’s winner, Europe’s top-rated horse Ombudsman, and high-class/progressive Eclipse winner Constitution River, but they could only fill the frame behind another pair who fought out a tight finish, with the verdict going to Dante winner Item (128p from 123p) by a head from five-year-old Almaqam (128 from 126), winner of the Tattersalls Gold Cup.
With his only defeat coming in the Derby, Item continues to improve and was value for more than his winning margin, twice having to overcome trouble in running to land the spoils for the sponsors, Juddmonte last being successful with Item’s sire Frankel. His strength at the finish bodes well for a return to a mile and a half and he has untapped potential at that distance, likely to be a major player in the Arc if it’s not too testing. Item replaces Constitution River (downgraded from 128p to 127), who ran far too freely in the early stages here before finishing third, as the leading three-year-old, though the Irish Champion Stakes will be his opportunity to get back on the up.
Just over half an hour earlier, the first two from the Derby re-opposed in an exceptionally good Great Voltigeur Stakes. As well as the Epsom winner Christmas Day, runner-up Maltese Cross had also picked up a Group 1 penalty from winning the Grand Prix de Paris in the meantime and followed up that gutsy win with a much-improved effort (117p from 126p), travelling well throughout in a race which tested stamina and looking a bona fide Arc contender.
The St Leger would be right up the street of the strong-galloping Christmas Day (remains 121), back in third here while shaping as though the run would bring him on, while stablemate Pierre Bonnard (remains 118), getting weight from the first and third, stayed on to split them, running about as well as he had when third in the Irish Derby.
Runner-up the big improver in the Yorkshire Oaks
Item’s connections – Juddmonte, Andrew Balding and Colin Keane – were successful again 24 hours later when Kalpana (remains 128) followed up last month’s King George victory in the Yorkshire Oaks, landing the odds back against her own sex but having even less to spare than Item. Having to make her effort earlier than ideal to chase down the Ballydoyle pacemaker who had established a big lead, Kalpana then had to fend off improving three-year-old Sparan Nua (121 from 110).
Shuffled back slightly at a key stage, Jim Bolger’s Irish Oaks third finished well and was probably unfortunate to go down by a short head, though was clearly well served by the demands of a soft-ground mile and a half. Given she only began her career in May, she may yet have more to offer with the emphasis on stamina.
Bacio proves himself a Group 1 sprinter
Wesley Ward’s progressive three-year-old Bacio (124p from 121p) had looked a leading candidate for the Nunthorpe ever since demolishing his handicap rivals at Royal Ascot, and while conditions might have been softer at York, that didn’t blunt his speed at all as he was soon tanking along at least two lengths clear with the pack only closing him down late on. The standout in appearance beforehand, he could dominate the European five-furlong division for a while yet and he’s going to take all the catching back home in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
The 2024 winner of that race, Starlust (117 from 111+), ran his best race since returning to racing after an aborted stallion career in Australia to finish second, though it was fourth-placed Time For Sandals (116 from 112) who shaped second-best after enduring a nightmare run from the rear and would have leading claims in next month’s Flying Five.
High-class winners on Saturday
Saturday’s highlight was the second running of the City of York Stakes as a Group 1, half the field of 14 being successful at that level already, and in a line-up featuring those stepping both up and down in trip, it was miler and form pick Notable Speech (127 from 126) who had the speed to cope with the shorter distance, quickly putting a below-par effort in the Queen Anne behind him to beat last year’s runner-up Lake Forest (120 from 121) by nearly three lengths. Following Bow Echo’s retirement, Notable Speech is just about the pick of the best milers still in training and will bid to retain his Breeders’ Cup title later in the year.
However, Notable Speech wasn’t the only high-class winner on the day. Earlier on, the Strensall Stakes was won with a performance rarely seen at Group 3 level by Hamad Al Jehani’s four-year-old Archivist (125 from 118), following up his smart win under 9-12 in the Golden Mile at Goodwood with a still better performance over the extra furlong at York, storming clear to win by seven and a half lengths. Much improved since the hood went on, he’s clearly well worth a try in higher grade.
Archivist’s owners Wathnan Racing also went close in the Ebor but their pair were narrowly denied in a three-way finish between a trio of improving four-year-olds, with the Copper Horse Handicap winner Daiquiri Bay (115 from 113) just getting the better of Hopewell Rock (115 from 113) and Opportunity (120 from 116), the last-named running a stormer under top weight.
Top two-year-old fillies heading for a showdown
There have been three performances of note from two-year-old fillies over six furlongs in recent days, and if all of them turn up in the Cheveley Park Stakes in a month’s time, it will make for a vintage edition.
First up at York was the Albany Stakes winner Libertango (107p from 104p) who took her record to three wins from four starts, overcoming a potentially tricky draw to beat the largest Lowther Stakes field this century in an above-average renewal.
However, Libertango’s rating was trumped in the very next race by the Phoenix Stakes winner Sun Goddess (110p from 108p), a rare Group 1 winner contesting a sales race, and even under a 7 lb penalty she duly proved a class apart from her big field of rivals though it was anything but plain sailing, having to be snatched up under two furlongs out before galloping on relentlessly once recovering to win by six lengths.
But her position as the top-rated two-year-old lasted only three days as Senorita Bonita (114 from 107p) put up a still better performance to rout her field in Sunday’s Prix Morny at Deauville. The only filly to have beaten Libertango, in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes, Senorita Bonita improved again to account for male rivals too this time, settling better than at Newmarket thanks to the strong pace set by eventual runner-up Carry The Flag (104 from 96) and storming home from well off the pace to pass him in the final furlong and win going away by four lengths.
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