In an attempt to beat the heatwave, ParisLongchamp stage their card on Thursday morning, with the G3 La Coupe scheduled at 9.40 a.m. Castle Down Racing’s G2 Dante S. hero of 2019, Telecaster (GB) (New Approach {Ire}), made an encouraging return to action when 1 1/4-lengths third to Lord North (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the G3 Betway Brigadier Gerard S. over this 10-furlong trip at Haydock on June 7 and that form is a notch above his rivals. He needs a confidence boost, but may not get an easy time if Team Valor International’s mare Nisreen (Ire) (Raven’s Pass) is on her A-game. Still progressing at six, she returns to Europe having run second to Magic Lily (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) in both the Jan. 16 G2 Cape Verdi and Feb. 13 G2 Balanchine at Meydan.
Telecaster’s trainer Hughie Morrison looks to have found an ideal opportunity for the 4-year-old and said, “Hopefully the ground won’t be too quick for him. We nearly put him in the Prince of Wales’s, but that would have been a quick enough turn around. It will be interesting to see how he takes the travelling. He seemed fine after Haydock and I didn’t have any negatives about the run. He probably would have enjoyed it more if we had let him roll on. That Haydock race could turn out to be better than the Prince of Wales’s S. He does plenty at home, but hopefully he will come for that run and I’d be disappointed if he doesn’t.”
Later on the card, ‘TDN Rising Star’ Space Blues (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) heads a duo from the Charlie Appleby stable in the seven-furlong G3 Prix de La Porte Maillot. Successful on his European return in Haydock’s Listed Spring Trophy on June 7, Godolphin’s G1 Prix Jean Prat runner-up and G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest third should prove a cut above his rivals with stablemate D’bai (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) perhaps his biggest threat.
Haydock’s card features a well-contested renewal of the Listed EBF Eternal Fillies’ S. over an extended seven furlongs in which two promising fillies from major yards in Althiqa (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and Jovial (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) are pitched in against last year’s G3 Prestige S. winner Boomer (GB) (Kingman {GB}), the G3 Princess Margaret S. scorer Under the Stars (Ire) (Night of Thunder {Ire}) and G2 Rockfel S. runner-up Stylistique (GB) (Dansili {GB}). Althiqa, who impressed when scoring by 7 1/2 lengths in a Newmarket novice over this trip on June 14, is joined by the fellow Charlie Appleby-trained Spring of Love (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) who is totally unexposed having won on debut at Newmarket in October. Jovial, a relative of Frankel (GB), represents the Khalid Abdullah-Sir Michael Stoute axis and looked ready for both her black-type bow and a step up in trip when taking a six-furlong handicap on Lingfield’s Polytrack on June 5.
Under the Stars’s trainer James Tate is hoping his stable star can back up after her gallant sixth in the G1 1000 Guineas at Newmarket on June 7. “She’s in good form and ran a nice race in the Guineas. She was just a bit fresh and a bit free and we think coming back to seven furlongs will suit her–we think it could prove to be her optimum trip,” he commented. “It does look a strong race, but that has rather been the story of the season so far. It does look a bit more like a Group 3 race on paper, rather than a listed race. We haven’t been done any favours by the draw [in stall 14], but she always runs well and I’m sure she will again.”
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