Hall-of-Famers and Returning Heroes

NEWMARKET, UK–With a line-up that included Hurricane Lane (Ire), Global Storm (Ire) and West Wind Blows (Ire), the G2 Jockey Club S. was ushered in, appropriately, with a deep rumble of thunder and crack of lightning. The threatened storm didn't amount to much, and by the time Hurricane Lane had blasted away from his rivals to cinch an important comeback victory by six lengths, the sky was brightening as much as the mood of Charlie Appleby.

The trainer was visibly relieved to have his 2021 dual Classic winner back in the top spot, perhaps even more so after his stable-mate  Native Trail (GB) hadn't quite sparkled earlier on in the G2 Bet365 Mile. 

“When you have a horse that has given us, and the team, what he has given us, of course you feel for them,” said Appleby. “You want them to do it and you want them to carry on. We will see if he is a Hardwicke horse in the summer, if the ground comes right. I always said I wanted to work back from an Arc. That might be a bit bold, but we will see.”

Appleby had already struck early in the opening race of the QIPCO Guineas Festival. Hopefully, the King and Queen Consort will have been so wrapped up in preparations for the coronation that they may not have noticed that the one horse to beat their highly promising colt Circle Of Fire (GB) was co-bred by their racing manager John Warren's Highclere Stud.

In fact, the Listed Newmarket S., provided a one-two for the Haras d'Etreham stallion Almanzor (Fr) when Godolphin's Castle Way (GB) led home the royal runner. The winner is a half-brother to the champion miler Palace Pier (GB) (Kingman {GB}), who is now ensconced at Darley's Dalham Hall Stud.

Ever the professional, Warren first addressed the matter of the staying-on run from the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Circle Of Fire in his post-race debrief, with a hint that he may head to Royal Ascot for the G2 King Edward VII S.

“He looks as of he will go up another gear if he goes over another couple of furlongs,” Warren said. “Ryan [Moore] thought that they went steady early on and probably thought that if they'd gone a bit quicker earlier on it would have suited him even better.

“It's annoying that [the abandonment of] Sandown has knocked us out timing-wise, so we'll have to get our heads around that, but without even talking to Michael yet he looks to me like he'll be a lovely horse for Ascot, and the owners will be able to attend, which will be nice.”

He added, “The most important thing is that he's with a trainer who will be able to get a proper handle on where we are going to pitch, but Ryan was impressed with him and there were some pretty nice horses in that race as a benchmark. He's out of a Galileo mare so it won't be a surprise if he will want a few furlongs more.”

Turning to Castle Way, the sixth foal of the Nayef mare Beach Frolic (GB) who was sold for 2.2 million gns in the year her current three-year-old colt was foaled, Warren was understandably similarly impressed. Castle Way himself, who was bred by Highclere in partnership with Floors Stud, was a 425,000gns Tattersalls October Book 1 yearling in the year that his illustrious half-sibling stormed to success in the G1 St James's Palace S. and G1 Prix Jacques Le Marois.

He said, “That was tremendous. We were excited about that. He was a beautiful yearling and made a good price as a yearling. She's been a wonderful mare and the family has done us proud. I am pleased that Coolmore have the mother now, which is great.”

Warren also added that Highclere Stud is now home to three foals from the first crop of Palace Pier.

“I have to say we are really impressed,” he noted. “Of course it's too early to say that, you can't judge it by just a few, but the first three that we've seen we've been mightily impressed with. Palace Pier was such a a tremendous horse and his brother looks a proper horse, too. It's very exciting.”

The Highclere team was celebrating again later in the day when the George Boughey-trained Soprano (Ire) was tuned to perfection to post a pretty sparkling win on debut in the juvenile fillies' maiden.

Shouldvebeenaring (GB) became the third Stakes winner for Havana Grey (GB) this year, and as his owners in the Middleham Park Racing syndicate collected their trophy, the colt's breeder Ed Harper watched on. It could be a big weekend for the Whitsbury Manor Stud team as not only did they breed Chaldean (GB) (Frankel {GB}), current third-favourite for the QIPCO 2,000 Guineas, but Havana Grey will be represented by his first Classic runner in Sunday's 1,000 Guineas when the G3 Nell Gwyn S. winner Mammas Girl (GB) returns to Newmarket. 

Harper admitted that Havana Grey had been inundated with applications with breeders this season.

“We've tried to keep him to around 160 mares,” he said. “I must say that [head of bloodstock] Joe Callan has done a really good job managing the horse.”

Harper also confirmed that Chaldean's dam, the multiple stakes producer Suelita (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}), has recently been covered again by Frankel.

On Friday evening at the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket, Sir Michael Stoute and Sea The Stars (Ire) were officially inducted into the QIPCO British Horseracing Hall of Fame. Their worthiness for such an honour could be in no doubt, but it was emphatically underlined when Stoute took the Nyetimber Fillies' Maiden with the eye-catching Infinite Cosmos (Ire), a daughter of Sea The Stars bred by the late Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, and whose Classic lines are as obvious in her elegant physique as on her page.

 

 

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Appleby Expects to see ‘Sharper and Tighter’ Hurricane Lane at Saint-Cloud

Last season's first two from the G1 Irish Derby-Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and Lone Eagle (Ire) (Galileo {Ire})–will meet once more in what promises to be an informative G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud on Sunday.

Hurricane Lane, who just snared Lone Eagle in the Irish Derby 12 months ago, went on to finish a gallant third in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

Well-beaten on his return in the G2 Hardwicke Stakes, Hurricane Lane is reported to be much sharper ahead of the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, according to his trainer Charlie Appleby.

He said, “There's a bit of rain forecast, so it looks like being on the slower side of good for sure. Any quicker and it might have raised concerns.

“I'll be honest, I was pleased with his run post-race (at Ascot). Pre-race I was confident that we'd got his level of fitness up there but turning four he's done very well physically, and he's certainly tightened up for the run, that's for sure.

“William (Buick) was happy with the way he travelled, he went through his girths and stayed on at the pace that we all saw.”

Appleby added, “What we've seen since the race is a sharper, tighter model. Some might ask if 15 days is enough time between runs, but 15 days was always our plan–the Hardwicke and then the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and what we saw last year was he thrives on his races.

“He went to the Derby, Irish Derby and then Grand Prix de Paris last year and that was probably his most impressive victory, so he thrives on his racing and we're very happy.”

Appleby has made no secret that his season revolves around another crack at the Arc, with one more run somewhere else before that.

“This is a horse that we're working back from the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. He ran a solid race in it last year. We know he's happier in slower conditions and in the first week of October it is likely to be that,” he said.

“He'll have one more prep run before the Arc and whether that will be in Ireland, England or France, we'll make that decision closer to the time.”

Lone Eagle has a few more questions to answer. After his great run at the Curragh he was last of five in the G1 King George in which he picked up an injury. He was also beaten on his comeback at Goodwood.

Now jointly trained by Freddie and Martyn Meade, the former told Sky Sports Racing, “He had some of the best form in the book last year and he's done well. We're really excited to see him run again.

“It was very important to get that run into him, as he showed last year in the (Sandown) Classic Trial. He then came out and ran really well in the Cocked Hat S.

“I think we're in a good spot with him and I think he's earned his place. It's a very tough race, but it fits well in the calendar for a few people's plans. It's by no means easy, but hopefully we're entitled to be there.”

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Sir Michael Stoute Supplements Solid Stone For Hardwicke Stakes

No trainer has a better record in the G2 Hardwicke S. than Sir Michael Stoue, who will be bidding to win the race for a 12th time at Royal Ascot on Saturday after supplementing Solid Stone (Ire) (Shamardal), who will be sporting the Derby-winning colours of Saeed Suhail.

Stoute won his sixth Derby when Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) powered home at Epsom just over a week ago for Suhail, who was also successful in 2003 with Kris Kin (Kris S), and the in-form trainer-owner combination will be bidding to maintain their good run of form at the royal meeting. 

Solid Stone was last seen winning the G2 Huxley S. at Chester and will bid to emulate previous Stoute-trained winners of the Hardwicke like Harbinger (GB), Sea Moon (GB), Telescope (Ire) and more recently Crystal Ocean (GB). 

All bar one of the past 14 winners were 4-year-olds and the Charlie Appleby-trained Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), winner of the Irish Derby last season, will be bidding to strengthen that record. 

Not seen since finishing third in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Hurricane Lane is likely to give the 6-year-old Solid Stone most to think about, and Appleby provided an upbeat bulletin on the colt's wellbeing.

He said, “I'm delighted with the way he has physically done from three to four and this has very much been our target, we're very much working back from the Arc.

“Compared to some of the older horses he had an extended break as we knew we weren't going to do anything early in the season with him.”

Appleby added, “He took in a racecourse gallop at Newmarket the other day, William (Buick) sat on him and he was very pleased. He needed it in the sense that everything is very relaxed at Moulton Paddocks and he was in a relaxed mode, so William just had to give him the signal to remind him to switch on his racing brain and you could see the penny dropped at the right time.”

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Arc Hero Torquator Tasso ‘Working Well’ Ahead of Return

Marcel Weiss, trainer of the reigning Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Torquator Tasso (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}), has provided an upbeat bulletin on the 5-year-old ahead of his eagerly-anticipated return to action at Baden-Baden on Sunday. 

Torquator Tasso shocked the racing world by becoming the longest-priced winner in Arc history when returning a 72-1 chance in a race where he had Dermot Weld's globetrotting mare Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal) and Irish Derby hero Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) in behind. 

The poster boy of German racing will return in the G2 Grosser Preis der Badischen Wirtschaft at Baden-Baden, a track he tasted top-notch success at last term when snaring the 149th Wettstar Grosser Preis von Baden before his memorable triumph at ParisLongchamp, and Weiss has described his stable star as having done very well over the winter. 

Speaking to TDN Europe, he said, “Torquator Tasso has wintered very well, settled down even more. He has been working very well, the preparation has been going according to plan and we are very hopeful for Baden-Baden, even though he is not yet at a 100%.”

Weiss has a big red circle around the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and will chart a path back to ParisLongchamp in the autumn with the aim of Torquator Tasso defending his crown.

Mapping out the campaign, he said, “The further plan is to go into the G2 Hansa-Preis at Hamburg, then there will be either Ascot [for the King George] or Berlin before we are planning for the G1 Grosser Preis von Baden and then onto the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.”

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