Goodwood Cup: Kyprios beats Stradivarius to claim dramatic victory
Kyprios edges out Stradivarius to claim victory in a dramatic Goodwood Cup.
Month: July 2022
Goodwood: Hollie Doyle Hoping For More Group 1 Success With ‘Unreal’ Nashwa
Hollie Doyle can't wait for her Qatar Nassau Stakes reunion with Nashwa, on whom she enjoyed yet another significant career 'first' in last month's Prix de Diane Hermes at Chantilly.
As the beaten favorite in a Newmarket novice on her sole start as a 2-year-old, Nashwa was not an obvious candidate for Classic success, but Doyle liked her from the moment she first sat on her and the pair have developed a special relationship.
John and Thady Gosden's daughter of Frankel is the most exciting filly Doyle has been associated with to date, her only defeat in four starts this year having been over a trip which stretched her when third in the Cazoo Oaks. She will understandably start firmly odds on in a field of nine for Thursday's Group 1, a part of the 35-race QIPCO British Champions Series which showcases the UK's finest Flat races.
Doyle had no simple task tactically and had to be more positive on Nashwa than usual from stall 2 in a field of 17 in the Diane, a race which was also won by the 2020 Nassau Stakes winner Fancy Blue.
Doyle explained: “It was quite a challenge from the draw she had but I knew what I wanted to do and how the French ride, and so I was able to be a bit cheekier than I might have been at home. Over there you have to be two lengths clear before you can cross over, and I used that to my advantage.
“I got a prominent position and held it, knowing that they would have to work really hard if they were to come around me and go two lengths clear. I was happy doing what I wanted to do and it worked out well.”
She added: “Winning the Prix de Diane on Nashwa was one of the very best days I've had in the saddle. As my first Classic winner it was huge. Just amazing. I've ridden a few winners over in France but that was a different class.
“Nashwa is just unreal and she's getting better and better. Every time I sit on her between races she's improved again. I rode a piece of work on her last week which was very similar to the work we did before France and she's bigger and stronger once again, and better than ever.
“There's no reason she shouldn't handle Goodwood. Although I did feel she was a bit weak on the track at Epsom in the Oaks, that was still early in her career and she handled it, although it wasn't ideal. She was beaten more by the trip than the track, and Goodwood shouldn't be a problem.”
Doyle's husband Tom Marquand is seeking a first Goodwood Group 1 success on the second favorite Lilac Road, whose trainer William Haggas has a particularly strong team of fillies.
Haggas said: “Lilac Road was a Group 2 winner at York in May in the Middleton and the only reason she hasn't run since is that there aren't many races for fillies when they've won their Group 2. There's only really the Pretty Polly, in which we ran two others. Also it was soft ground, which she doesn't want.
“She's fine and she's working nicely. She's fresh and well and she's in good shape. She'll run a good race, but whether she's quite up to that class we'll find out on Thursday.”
Dreamloper was down the field in the Pretty Polly Stakes but had Lilac Road back in fifth when a Group 2 winner at Newmarket on her reappearance, after which she gained a first Group 1 win in the Prix d'Ispahan at Longchamp.
Her trainer Ed Waker can explain the disappointing run in Ireland and he believes that the filly, on whom Kieran Shoemark is seeking to follow up last year's win on Lady Bowthorpe, ought to be second favourite.
Walker said: “The ground was the problem at the Curragh last time, and also she got a bit crowded, which made her a bit keen. Keenness has always been a bit of a thing for her but she's been quite good this year. On that ground though Kieran said she was wheelspinning. We can put a line through that and she ought to be second favourite, as last time we met Lilac Road in the Dahlia we beat her, and we've won a Group 1 since then.
“The win in the Prix d'Ispahan was great. It was really quick ground there – I walked the track and there's no way it was the good to soft that they were calling it. – but she settled great that day. When she settles she has a deadly turn of foot, and the faster the ground the better.”
Aidan O'Brien's four Nassau Stakes winners were all already Classic winners, but this year's representative Concert Hall has yet to win anything better than a Group 3. She has been running well at a very high level however, most recently in the Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes, and wears cheekpieces for the first time.
O'Brien said: “She ran a good race in America and finished fourth. She's also run in the Irish Guineas, the Oaks and the Pretty Polly and she always seems to run a good race.”
Also challenging from Ireland is Curragh Group 2 third One For Bobby, on whom Frankie Dettori will be teaming up with his old friend Johnny Murtagh, who rode the O'Brien winners Peeping Fawn (2007) and Halfway To Heaven (2008).
Sir Michael Stoute, the last of whose record seven Nassau wins was back in 2004, runs Ville De Grace, whose form is closely linked to Lilac Road and Dreamloper. Ville De Grace beat Lilac Road in the Pride Stakes at Newmarket in October but was only fourth behind her in the Middleton Stakes. In between she was beaten a nose by Dreamloper in the Dahlia Stakes.
The field is completed by Middleton Stakes runner-up Aristia, York Listed winner Fonteyn and Lingfield Oaks Trial winner Rogue Millennium.
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Japan’s Laboratory Of Racing Chemistry Named Sixth IFHA Reference Lab
Following the approval by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) Reference Laboratory Appointment Committee (RLAC), it was announced Monday that the Laboratory of Racing Chemistry, Japan (LRC) has been fully appointed as an IFHA Reference Laboratory. Following its application and a remote assessment that took place in 2021 due to the ongoing travel restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, LRC was granted provisional appointment as an IFHA Reference Laboratory in July 2021. An on-site assessment took place in June 2022 which resulted in a recommendation that LRC become the sixth appointed IFHA Reference Laboratory.
“I want to commend the Laboratory of Racing Chemistry for its hard work, diligence and patience in becoming an IFHA Reference Laboratory,” said Reference Laboratory Appointment Committee (RLAC) Chair Andrew Harding. “This application commenced prior to the onset of COVID-19, and LRC was markedly professional in responding to the challenges of this process that were additionally brought on by the pandemic. We congratulate them for becoming the sixth IFHA Reference Laboratory.”
The President of the LRC, Dr Toru Anzai remarked: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the members of the RLAC of the IFHA for its continuous efforts to assist the LRC in the application of an IFHA Reference Laboratory. The LRC's successful appointment as an IFHA Reference Laboratory was mainly attributed to its effective teamwork and professional expertise, most importantly tremendous support from the Japan Racing Association (JRA). After becoming the sixth IFHA Reference Laboratory, the LRC will certainly contribute more to the racing industry and work even more closely with the IFHA and the other five IFHA Reference Laboratories in the coming future.”
The LRC, established in 1965, is an internationally accredited horse racing doping control laboratory primarily used to provide professional analytical testing services for the analysis of equine biological samples including urine, blood and hair from horse racing and international equestrian events. LRC is the only equine drug testing laboratory in Japan, and its main role is to uphold the integrity of horse racing in Japan to ensure a level playing field for all stakeholders.
Following its appointment, LRC joins Racing Analytical Services Limited (Australia); Laboratoire Des Courses Hippiques (France); LGC Group, Sport & Specialised Analytical Services (Great Britain); the Hong Kong Jockey Club Racing Laboratory (Hong Kong); and the Kenneth L. Maddy Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory, University of California at Davis (USA) as IFHA Reference Laboratories. As part of the application process, IFHA Reference Laboratories successfully satisfy criteria that include but are not limited to the scale of operations, resourcing, research activity and capability to detect the use of prohibited substances, including the major doping agents (MDAs).
The IFHA Reference Laboratory White Manual with annexes, updated for July 2022, can be found at https://ifhaonline.org/default.asp?section=IABRW&area=13.
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Hold Your Horses: Study Shows Equines Are Capable Of Self-Control
German study has shown that horses are able to exhibit a level of self-control which is surprising in grazing species: they can hold out for a better food reward.
Dr. Désirée Brucks and her researchers at the University of Giessen defined self-control as the ability to forego immediate satisfaction for a better reward in the future. Self-control varies widely both between and within species.
Many grazing species have little self-control, but horses' complex social interactions in herds may be linked to higher self-controlling abilities. Brucks and the scientists suggest that self-control may be a factor in training horses, or when the horses have to deal with potentially stressful management.
The scientists created a delay-of-gratification test using 52 horses which were taught that they would get the higher-value reward only if they didn't eat the lower-value reward offered first. In the first phase of the study, familiar experimenters stood just out of reach of the horse with a low-value treat (some hay) in one hand and a high-value treat in the other. They put the low-value reward in reach of the horse and if the horse refrained from eating the hay for 60 seconds, it then got the higher-valued treat. If it ate the hay, it did not get the treat.
The horses were tested in two ways: with the experimenter's eyes visible and gazing directly at the horse, and with the experimenter's eyes hidden behind sunglasses.
The researchers found that 20 horses (41.67 percent) were able to wait the required 60 seconds for a higher-valued treat. All horses performed worse when the experimenter's eyes could not be seen.
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In the second experiment, there was one experimenter per horse and 30 more horses were tested. Only two of the horses successfully waited the 60 seconds for the food reward. The horses that had been through the first test tolerated the delays better than the horses that had not been through the experiment.
Horses that had free access to hay were able to better tolerate the food delays than horses that had restricted access to hay. The researchers found no correlations between how the horse owners perceived their animals and the horses' success in the test. The team also found that horses that pawed at the ground or looked away were more successful at waiting than horses which did not engage in distraction behaviors while waiting.
Read more at HorseTalk.
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