Newcastle: Nashwa Looking to Get Back on Track in the Hoppings

Friday sees an above-average renewal of Newcastle's G3 Hoppings Fillies' S. as Imad Al Sagar's G1 Prix de Diane and G1 Nassau S. heroine Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}) looks to start her 2023 campaign in earnest on the Tapeta. Disappointing when too fresh in the G2 Prix Corrida at Saint-Cloud last month, the Gosdens have opted to go back to basics with one of the cream of last year's TDN Rising Stars. This is no foregone conclusion with Shadwell's G2 Dahlia S. runner-up and Listed Rothesay S. winner Al Husn (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in attendance, while the extended 10-furlong trip could bring out the best in another TDN Rising Star, last year's G1 Fillies' Mile third Bright Diamond (Ire) (El Kabeir).

Al Sagar's racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe is hoping for a return to form from Nashwa. “She had hard races in the Opera and at the Breeders' Cup and really needed her first run back in the Prix Corrida,” he explained. “We wanted her to hopefully get back to her level with the plan then possibly being to head to the Nassau. Imad has shown patience, these fillies pretty much tell us when they are ready so it is a question of hopefully getting everything lined up in the right order.”

 

Weekend Action Shapes Up…
   Ahead of what promises to be an intriguing three days of action, The Curragh's G1 Yulong Pretty Polly S. will see nine fillies and mares in the line-up including Coolmore's 2022 G1 Prix Saint-Alary-winning TDN Rising Star Above The Curve (American Pharoah) and the highly impressive G2 Dahlia S. winner Via Sistina (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) from the George Boughey stable. The draw was also made for Sunday's G1 Deutsches Derby at Hamburg, with Gestut Karlshof's Straight (Ger) (Zarak {Fr}) in pole position after his five-length dismissal of TDN Rising Star Mr Hollywood (Ire) (Iquitos {Ger}) in Cologne's G2 Union-Rennen earlier this month. He is drawn in eight, with Wanja Soren Oberhof and Sebastian Weiss's Mr Hollywood, who had previously won Munich's G3 Bavarian Classic, in stall four. Liberty Racing 2021's G3 Baden-Baden Derby-Trial winner Fantastic Moon (Ger) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) has stall 16 to contend with, but six of the last 10 winners of the Classic were coming from double-figure stalls including his sire who was drawn 15 in 2014.

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Lingfield Offers Epsom Clues

   Sandwiched in between the Derby and Oaks trials of Chester and York, Lingfield stages its own prep races for both Epsom Classics on Saturday before Classic action unfolds again in France on Sunday. It was only four years ago that Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Anapurna (GB) (Frankel {GB}) revived the Listed Derby and Oaks Trials by doubling up on the first Friday and Saturday in June and with the major yards represented close inspection is required.

In the Derby Trial, the two colts who went to post for the Listed Newmarket S. just eight days ago, Circle Of Fire (GB) (Almanzor {Fr}) and Waipiro (Ire) (Australia {GB}), venture forth again to try and squeeze into what could be an open contest next month.     While Waipiro was unable to take part at Newmarket after Tom Marquand was kicked, The King and Queen Consort's Circle Of Fire showed up with promise in the 10-furlong contest and it is notable that he is backing up uncharacteristically for a Sir Michael Stoute charge. Obviously connections are still harbouring an outside dream of the Royal colours being carried at Epsom, while Waipiro's trainer Ed Walker could be about to relive the buzz that his 2020 Lingfield Derby Trial winner English King (Fr) (Camelot {GB}) provided.

“The tight nature of this track I don't think will suit many Derby-type horses, but he's a well-balanced horse and I would rather run on the all-weather than heavy ground,” he said. “We don't have a heap of mile-and-a-half horses to compare him to, so we need to compare them to other peoples. So we go there knowing as much as you do really.”

 

One For Inquiring Minds

If ever a son of Kingman (GB) was going to have a genuine Derby contender, it would be in the mould of Anthony Oppenheimer's Inquiring Minds (GB) whose dam Precious Ramotswe (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) was successful in the 14-furlong G3 Bronte Cup. Impressive on his 10-furlong debut at Newcastle 11 days prior to this test, the John and Thady Gosden trainee is another who is being sent back into action unusually quickly for a stable renowned for patience. “This will tell us what kind of standard he is,” Oppenheimer said of the homebred, who bids to provide the stable with its first winner of this since Percussionist (Ire) in 2004. “The King Edward is the sort of race one thinks he might enjoy–I would think he will be more suited to Ascot. I think he is quite useful, but I don't think he's number one in the stable, so I don't think we can expect too much.”

 

A Valid Point?

With the switch to the Polytrack for the two Classic trials, it may be that proven form on the surface counts for a lot. For all the proven class of Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum's TDN Rising Star and G1 Fillies' Mile third Bright Diamond (Ire) (El Kabeir) and Ballydoyle's G3 Prix Penelope third Be Happy (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), Godolphin's pair Eternal Hope (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) and Sunset Point (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) have won at Chelmsford and at this track respectively. The latter, who scored by seven lengths on her 3-year-old bow in a Windsor handicap last month, is a daughter of Hidden Gold (Ire) (Shamardal) who captured the Listed River Eden Fillies' S. over this track and surface and who hails from the ultimate Epsom family of Galileo (Ire), Sea The Stars (Ire) and Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}). “Both don't look out of place in the field and this should give us a gauge for their future,” trainer Charlie Appleby said.

 

Draws Made For Poulains and Pouliches

ParisLongchamp's G1 Emirates Poule d'Essai des Poulains and G1 Emirates Poule d'Essai des Pouliches took their final shape on Friday, with manageable fields of 10 for both negating the worst effects of the draw. On that front, there was good news for Wathnan Racing as their high-profile acquisition Isaac Shelby (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) is in stall one for the colts' Classic next to Malcolm Parrish's likely favourite American Flag (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}). Aidan O'Brien is to be represented only by 'TDN Rising Star' Hans Andersen (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who breaks from stall six which is also the draw handed to the stable's sole Pouliches representative Never Ending Story (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}).

 

Inside Post For Blue

Yeguada Centurion SL's G1 Prix Marcel Boussac and G3 Prix de la Grotte scorer Blue Rose Cen (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}) was handed stall one for the Pouliches, with Jean-Claude Seroul, Haras d'Etreham and Riviera Equine's Ritournelle (Fr) (Camelot {GB}) next door in two. While Blue Rose Cen should be sent forward from that favourable draw, Ritournelle who was beaten a head by Showay (Fr) (Galiway {GB}) in the G3 Prix Imprudence at Deauville will be arriving late on her return to a mile. “I did regret not running her in the 1000 Guineas, given that the ground at Newmarket was riding soft and because she loves a straight course,” trainer Jerome Reynier admitted. “Ritournelle has done nothing but improve with each race, her preparation has gone well and so we can go to into the race calmly and confidently.”

 

Can Rouget Turn It Around?

This season has hardly gone to plan for Jean-Claude Rouget, with most of the Classic trials for once passing him by, but in The Aga Khan's Valimi (Fr) (Teofilo {Ire}) and White Birch Farm's Kubrick (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) he has two live Poulains contenders. Valimi, who took April's course-and-distance Prix Machado conditions event, has the GI Breeders' Cup Mile hero Val Royal (Fr) in his pedigree while Kubrick's half-brother Raging Bull (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}) has two top-level successes to his name at the trip. “Valimi and Kubrick did their final serious pieces of work on the grass at Deauville racecourse on Tuesday–the ground was very soft and they were not visibly inconvenienced by it,” Rouget said. “Both were giving me concern in this respect beforehand, especially Kubrick. He made a good return [when fourth] in the Prix Djebel and I was satisfied with his performance. Valimi improved for his return effort at Saint-Cloud and very quickly set the record straight last time.”

 

Testing Ground For Sunday

Charles de Cordon, who has the task of preparing the track at ParisLongchamp, is expecting the mile Classics to be stamina tests. “It has rained a lot in the Parisian region during the first part of the week, but the track has been drying out,” he said. “We expect the ground to ride very soft on Sunday and anticipate a penetrometer reading of around 3.9. There will be a 10-metre strip of fresh ground and the open-stretch, five metres out from the running rail, will also come into play.”

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Commissioning Looks To Maintain Order In The Fillies’ Mile

John and Thady Gosden had an unsually quiet season with their 2-year-olds until Isa Salman and Abdulla Al Khalifa's Commissioning (GB) (Kingman {GB}) came along and blew the scene apart in the G2 Rockfel S. a fortnight ago. Friday's G1 bet365 Fillies' Mile also on Newmarket's Rowley Mile appears hers for the taking on Friday if she can reproduce that kind of performance in such a competitive edition of that prize.

Like her, Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum's TDN Rising Star Bright Diamond (Ire) (El Kabeir) debuted in style on the July Course here and after winning by nine lengths Aug. 6. lost nothing in defeat when third from a compromising position in the seven-furlong G3 Prestige S. at Goodwood three weeks later. “She didn't get the run of the race at Goodwood as we were a bit slowly away, the first two were always the first two and we were the only horse to make ground up on them,” trainer Karl Burke said. “I think if she'd jumped better she'd have probably beaten them.”

The Megsons' rags-to-riches sensation Polly Pott (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}) adds a twist to this tale, having provided a grand finale to the career of Harry Dunlop in Doncaster's G2 May Hill S. Sept. 8. Is this a step too far for the 21,000gns Book 2 bargain or is there a tear-provoking moment in store to follow Alpinista's triumph on Sunday? At the other end of the spectrum, Ballydoyle's Library (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) is of course impossible to ignore despite her underwhelming second in Leopardstown's Listed Ingabelle S. Sept. 10, with the step up to a mile sure to suit and any amount of improvement to come.

 

Lose Yourself In The Oh So Sharp

In the seven-furlong G3 Godolphin Lifetime Care Oh So Sharp S., there is a fascinating clash of the unbeaten Tom Clover-trained Newbury conditions scorer Crystallium (GB) (Expert Eye {GB})–only 22,000gns at the Book 2 Sale–and the Rockfel third Rage Of Bamby (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}), with several budding stars such as the Sept. 24 Curragh maiden winner Small Oasis (GB) (Sioux Nation) from the Michael Grassick stable and the Ralph Beckett-trained July Course winner Lose Yourself (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}). “We think she could be special, but the ground would be a big worry,” Grassick admitted on Thursday. “She's a far better filly with a bit of juice in the ground, so hopefully the ground doesn't get too quick for her.” Beckett's strike-rate on the Rowley Mile in the autumn is formidable and his juveniles seem especially tuned in this season, while there is also Roisin Henry's impressive Doncaster novice winner Midnight Mile (Ire) (No Nay Never), of whom Richard Fahey said, “We've been minding her as she's a filly for the future, but she's been working well.”

 

Crowned Prince?

Newmarket also stages the G3 Newmarket Academy Godolphin Beacon Project Cornwallis S. over five furlongs, where Middleham Park's impressive Listed Harry Rosebery S. winner Prince Of Pillo (Ire) (Prince Of Lir {Ire}) could become that breakthrough good horse that trainer Keith Dalgleish seems destined for. The G2 Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards Challenge S. sees Cheveley Park Stud's brilliant if unpredictable Sacred (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) look to inch William Haggas towards the trainers' championship. Her emphatic display in Newbury's Listed Dubai Duty Free Cup over this seven-furlong trip Sept. 16 was the Sacred we know best. “If she runs a big race then we might be tempted to travel to the Breeders' Cup, but she'll tell us I suppose,” the Stud's managing director Chris Richardson said. “We appreciate Keeneland can have soft ground at that time of year and it's not like it would have been had the Breeders' Cup been at Santa Anita, for example, but we'll keep the window of opportunity open for now anyway.”

There is also the 10-furlong G3 Newmarket Pony Academy Pride S., where Shadwell's improving Listed John Musker Fillies' S. winner Shaara (GB) (Shamardal) is the exciting one.

Click here for the fields.

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El Kabeir’s Bright Diamond A New Rising Star At Newmarket

There were some choicely-bred fillies in Newmarket's opening British Stallion Studs EBF “Newcomers” Maiden Fillies' S. on Saturday, but one dominant member of the class in Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum's Bright Diamond (Ire) (El Kabeir–Starlite Sienna {Ire}, by Elusive Pimpernel). Sent off at 10-1, the Karl Burke-trained bay who was a bargain €52,000 purchase at the Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze-Up was at work first under Clifford Lee but responded to power her way to the front approaching the furlong pole. Devouring the rising ground to the line, the relative of the dual group 3 winner Realtra (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) had nine lengths to spare over the Michael Bell-trained Liberalist (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) there, with a neck back to Jalapa (GB) (Expert Eye {GB}), the half-sister to Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}).

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