The Unscripted Delights of Anticipation Week

Newmarket's Craven meeting could just as well be called Anticipation Week.

Anticipation is climbing the steps of a venerated football stadium for a night game to find the floodlights blazing and the grass slick and lush.

It's the bounce of the England cricket team down the pavilion steps to start an Ashes series. It's checking your tickets the day before Wimbledon tennis starts or standing just after dawn beside the first tee at an Open Championship or Masters.

It's not about what you know. It's about all the things you don't know. Or don't know yet, because there is no script. A venue, a tradition, a hum of expectation, yes, but no script. Unlike cinema or the theatre, nobody wrote what you are about to see. You scan the horizon of pleasures still to come with a preferred outcome, certainly, but no guarantees.

In books and films the whodunnit is already decided. In sport the who-will win-it is a thing of intrigue. It's the unknowable.

What I'm describing here, in racing terms, is 'Craven week,' the Newmarket fixture that ends the strange hiatus between the Lincoln meeting at Doncaster and the 'real' start of a Flat racing campaign, on the Rowley Mile course. 

It's not about what you know. It's about all the things you don't know. Or don't know yet, because there is no script.

The Grand National meeting bisects the cutting of the start-line ribbon at Donny and the unleashing of the first wave of Classic contenders at Newmarket, in a week when everything feels possible, and dreams are unbruised by reality.

And in Flat racing, anticipation week is centuries old. The Craven was first run in 1771 and evolved over two hundred years into the pre-eminent 2,000 Guineas trial. In 1869 it was reduced from 10 furlongs to eight. Eight years later it was restricted to three-year-olds. 

Modern training is a scientific, data-driven trade, so colts often go straight to the Guineas without a prep run. City of Troy and Rosallion – the first two in the market – will arrive on May 4 without form in the book as three-year-olds.

Yet the Craven is still the race that tells you spring has sprung, the Classic race scramble has begun, and that 2024's contenders are about to be reclassified as champs, nearly-horses and also-rans.

In the history of the colts' Classics, the evidence trail still starts with the Craven. Six years ago Masar beat the odds-on Roaring Lion and went on to win the Derby. Roaring Lion proceeded to win four Group 1s. Curiously the last horse to compete the Craven-2,000 Guineas double was Haafhd in 2004, an anomaly that is due correction. Eminent (2017), Native Khan (2011) and Adagio (2007) are among those for whom winning the Craven was largely an end, rather than a beginning.

No modern Craven meeting has produced a more lasting declaration than that of Dancing Brave in 1986. His defeat of Henry Cecil's pair Faraway Dancer and Mashkour was emphatic enough but the ground was too soft to offer a promise of the beauty to come: victories in the 2,000 Guineas, Eclipse, King George and Arc to earn an official rating of 141, the highest ever awarded to a horse at that time.

The first big fillies' trial of the season, the Nell Gwyn Stakes, can also be revelatory. In a mini golden era from 1984 to 1986 it was won by Pebbles (1,000 Guineas, Eclipse, Champion Stakes, Breeders' Cup Turf), Oh So Sharp (1,000 Guineas, Oaks, St Leger) and Sonic Lady (Irish 1,000 Guineas, Coronation Stakes, Sussex Stakes, Prix du Moulin.)

The British crave spring and hints of summer delights particularly keenly. It feels as if it has been raining in the UK since November. Racing folk ask Craven week to lift the grey blanket off their heads. They want equine coats to gleam and the sun to glint off silks. Trainers, stable staff and jockeys will see hints from the gallops tested on the racecourse. Lazy types will be transformed and 'morning wonders' may flop when they step on the track.

With Craven week, there are clues and promise but no certainties. After Newmarket the auditions roll on to Newbury, to the Greenham and Fred Darling. The two Guineas races come less than three weeks after the Newmarket and Newbury trials – a timetable more compressed than you might imagine, considering that these are three-year-olds emerging from hibernation.

Everything is up for grabs, and everyone wants to grab it, especially after a gruelling, soggy winter. The not knowing is part of the thrill. There are champions on the scroll of Nell Gwyn and Craven winners but there are also winners you struggle to remember. It's not possible for a 'bad' horse to win either race, but eminently possible for the victory to lead nowhere. Twelve months ago Indestructible beat The Foxes in the Craven but has not won since.

In Anticipation Week stars will emerge, reality checks will abound, hopes will be dashed and question marks will be scattered. But the 2024 Flat season will be in full swing. It's not just the horses who burst from the stalls at Newmarket. We do too.

 

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Irish Horse Racing Fixtures Increase For 2024 As Fixture List Announced By HRI

The 2024 Irish fixture list, which will see the number of meetings rise to 395 while also extending the industry breaks in winter and summer and maintain six blank Sundays, was published by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) on Thursday.

There were 390 fixtures scheduled for 2023. All of the 2024 fixtures have been allocated barring four, and horses-in-training numbers are up 2%. Six turf fixtures have been added to the 2024 fixture list, initially on a one-year basis, and will held at Punchestown (Bank Holiday Monday, Feb. 5), the Curragh (Saturday, Apr. 6), Bellewstown & Down Royal (both Sunday. Apr. 14), Wexford (Wednesday, Aug. 7) and Roscommon (Monday, Oct. 14). In addition, The Flat winter break has been extended by nine days, from Dec. 22-Jan. 12. The summer break in the National Hunt season has also been extended by two days. The six blank Sundays will be on Apr. 28, June 23, July 14, July 28, Sept. 8 and Dec. 22.The Flat season will also begin slightly earlier at the Curragh on Mar. 18 and will end at that racecourse on Nov. 3. Some of the major racing festivals are as follows:

 

  • Dublin Racing Festival: Feb. 3-4
  • Cork Easter Festival: Mar. 30-Apr. 1
  • Fairyhouse Easter Festival: Mar. 30-Apr. 1
  • Punchestown Festival: Apr. 30-May 4
  • Killarney Spring Festival: May 12-14
  • Curragh Guineas Festival: May 24-26
  • Down Royal Ulster Derby: June 21-22
  • Curragh Derby Festival: June 28-30
  • Bellewstown Summer Festival: July 4-6
  • Killarney July Festival: July 15-19
  • Curragh Oaks Festival: July 20-21
  • Galway Festival: July 29-Aug. 4
  • Tramore August Festival: Aug. 15-18
  • Killarney August Festival: Aug. 22-24
  • Irish Champions Festival: Sept. 14-15
  • Listowel Harvest Festival 22-28
  • Down Royal NH Festival: Nov. 1-2
  • Navan Racing Festival: Nov. 16-17
  • Punchestown Winter Festival: Nov. 23-24
  • Fairyhouse Winter Festival: Nov. 30-Dec. 1
  • Leopardstown Christmas Festival: Dec.26-29
  • Limerick Christmas Festival: Dec. 26-29

 

Jason Morris, HRI's Director of Racing and Strategic Projects, said, “HRI is very conscious of the extra demands being placed on all those working in the industry by the increasing fixture list and hence why, following consultation, the Fixtures Committee has extended the break periods under both codes. There will now be a three-week gap over the Christmas and New Year period for the Flat, and a full two week break for the National Hunt sector in June/July. We have also retained the number of blank Sundays at six.”

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Wildcard My Lyka One Of Four Added To Arqana Summer Sale

Dual winner My Lyka (GB) (Intello {Ger}) is one of four wildcards added to the Arqana Summer Sale on July 4-6 in Deauville.

Consigned as lot 449, the 98-rated 4-year-old was most recently fourth in the G2 Grand Prix de Chantilly. The other wildcards are lot 495, Full Of Shade (Fr) (No Risk At All {Fr}), who was second over hurdles in her second start; the placed hurdler Sun Joy (Fr) (Hunter's Light {Ire}) (lot 496); and Le Grande Yves (Fr) (Triple Threat {GB}) (lot 497), a two-length winner over hurdles at Vichy.

The juvenile breezes will take place at Deauville at 1 p.m. on July 4, with both the 2-year-olds and stores set to go under the hammer beginning at 11 a.m. on July 5. There is also a breeding stock portion and horses-in-training session starting at 11 a.m. on July 6.

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Infinite Possibilities On The Knavesmire

   Sir Michael Stoute unveiled his 2022 Epsom Classic winner at York's three-day Dante meeting and bids to repeat that trick on Wednesday as he puts TDN Rising Star Infinite Cosmos (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) to the test in the G3 Tattersalls Musidora S. over an extended 10 furlongs. Following the astronomic performance of Savethelastdance  (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) at Chester last week, the Oaks appears cut and dried as long as the Ballydoyle starlet stays on track but that is not a certainty during this volatile time of year, especially for the fillies. Infinite Cosmos did more to impress in defeat on debut than when breaking her maiden at Newmarket 12 days ago and Stoute himself described that as workmanlike, so it may be that the Rothschild homebred reaches her obvious potential later than June as was the case with her Sea The Stars-sired relative Crystal Ocean (GB).

Making The Great Leap Forward

Following the Cheshire Oaks, the story of this year's Epsom Classic is the race just to stay in the relative vicinity of the newest and potentially greatest middle-distance filly Rosegreen has produced in the Aidan O'Brien era. Her incredible closing sectionals, fascinatingly compared with Shergar's in Simon Rowlands Sectional Spotlight blog on the At The Races site, mean that all remaining trials for Epsom will have to pass the clock's inspection. One who has the potential to put up a big figure in that respect is another who recently received the TDN Rising Star honour in Linda Shanahan and Emily Magnier's 9 1/2-length Newbury maiden winner Gather Ye Rosebuds (GB) (Zoffany {Ire}).

“It was a great result first time and she put in what looks like an outstanding performance,” trainer Jack Channon said. “I feel like, mentally and physically, she's improved from that run. She's a big filly that's maturing day in, day out. She hadn't quite lost her coat at Newbury, but she's really shining now. She's started to flourish in the last three weeks and I couldn't be happier with the way all her work and everything like that's gone.”

The Yardsticks

Every Classic trial worth its salt needs proven performers and the Musidora has those thanks to the presence of Roisin Henry's G3 Oh So Sharp S. winner and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf fourth Midnight Mile (Ire) (No Nay Never), Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum's G1 Fillies' Mile runner-up Novakai (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) and Weldspec Glasgow Limited's G3 Prix Penelope runner-up Sea Of Roses (GB) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), with the latter having beaten Infinite Cosmos last term. Richard Fahey is happy that Midnight Mile, a relative of Sadler's Wells's Oaks winner Quarter Moon (Ire) and runner-up Yesterday (Ire), will be more at home racing further than a mile for the first time.

“She has wintered extremely well and we are very happy with her,” he said. “She has filled out and I should imagine this trip will probably suit her well, but this is a good Musidora, a very good race and it will be a good filly who wins it. She started late last year and she took a little time to come to herself, so I haven't rushed her this year. She got some nice experience last year and we've always felt she would make a better 3-year-old, so fingers crossed.”

 Welcome Back, Princess

In the day's feature G2 1895 Duke Of York Clipper S., Highfield Princess (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) makes her keenly-anticipated return to action in the race that saw her reputation take off towards the stratosphere 12 months ago. Those expecting a repeat would be well-advised to remember that the G1 Nunthorpe S., G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest and G1 Flying Five heroine came into the 2022 renewal on the back of an all-weather campaign consisting of four races and is under a Group 1 penalty this time. That may tell with the likes of Bennett Racing's improving G1 Al Quoz Sprint runner-up The Astrologist (Aus) (Zoustar {Aus}) and Nick Bradley Racing's high-class 3-year-old Marshman (GB) (Harry Angel {Ire}) in attendance and race-sharpened.

John Quinn is aware of the different task this time. “She had a break after America, but she's been back in a while,” he explained. “We're pleased how she's training, but all of her life she's been getting the mares' allowance and now, with her Group 1 penalty, obviously she's giving weight to colts which won't be easy.”

Marshman took part in just about the best 2-year-old race over this six-furlong trip in 2022 when second to Noble Style (GB) (Kingman {GB}) in the G2 Gimcrack S. at this track's flagship Ebor Festival and will be primed after his return win in Chantilly's G3 Prix Sigy last month. “If you look at the horses behind him in the Gimcrack, Cold Case was four lengths behind him and Royal Scotsman was six lengths behind,” Nick Bradley said. “I think that was a really, really good race. What I was impressed about at Chantilly was the way he accelerated away from the field. We expected him to get tired and he did, but he's come out of the race really well and it should put him spot-on for this.”

A Star At Vichy

Meanwhile in France, Vichy stages its first Flat meeting of the season and plays host to Europe's second juvenile black-type contest of the year. The Auvergne track's highlight is the five-furlong Listed Haras de Beaumont-Prix des Reves d'Or-Jacques Bouchara, which has attracted seven fillies and features Craig Bernick and Haras d'Etreham's TDN Rising Star Les Pavots (Ire) (No Nay Never). Out again quickly for Francis-Henri Graffard following her deeply impressive debut effort over six furlongs at Chantilly earlier in the month, the half-sister to the dual Group 1 hero Sir Dragonet (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) descends from the great Urban Sea (Miswaki) so this drop back in trip is revealing. She encounters Amo Racing's similarly unbeaten Redcar novice winner Komat (GB) (Cable Bay {Ire}), more of a dyed-in-the-wool sprinting type from the Dominic Ffrench Davis stable.

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