John Gosden | Horse Racing Free Tips

Kilroe Winner Hits the Road for First Time in Maker’s Mark Mile

The winner of four straight races and six of nine overall, including a first-ever Grade I triumph for his trainer last out, progressive Hit the Road (More Than Ready) will travel outside of California for the first time in his career to face eight rivals in a competitive renewal of the GI Maker's Mark Mile Friday at Keeneland.

Capturing his first two turf tries, the latter coming in the Zuma Beach S., as a 2-year-old, the bay ran seventh before being disqualified to last in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf and was fourth in the GIII Cecil B. DeMille S. That's the last time Hit the Road has tasted defeat, as he followed up a Santa Anita allowance score last spring with a tally in the restricted Oceanside S. July 10 at Del Mar. Given the rest of his sophomore campaign off, he's come back better than ever, dominating the GIII Thunder Road S. by 3 3/4 lengths and squeezing through a narrow opening to take the GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile S. to give conditioner Dan Blacker a career high Mar. 6 at Santa Anita.

Given the narrow nod at 7-2 on the morning line is the lone other Grade I winner in the field, Peter Brant's Raging Bull (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}). Rallying to a victory in the GI Hollywood Derby in December of 2018, the now 6-year-old has had a difficult time finding the winning thread since then, scoring just once in his subsequent 10 tries, albeit at the highest level in last spring's GI Shoemaker Mile S. at Santa Anita. The Chad Brown trainee ran a close third in this event last year and was runner-up in the GI Shadwell Turf Mile S. here in the fall before running 10th in the GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile.

Lightly-raced Darain (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) intrigues as he takes a steep class hike. Starting his career two-for-two last summer in his native land for John Gosden, he failed to hit the board in the G2 Sky Bet Great Voltigeur S. or G3 Darley S., but was a narrow second and registered a sharp allowance score in two tries for Brad Cox this winter at Fair Grounds. Somelikeithotbrown (Big Brown) also commands respect, as his twin 105 Beyers from his runner-up finish in Pimlico's GII Dinner Party S. and victory in the New York-bred Mohawk S. last fall are tied with Raging Bull's Shoemaker figure for field best.

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Future Targets Outlined For Mishriff and Lord North

After his victory in the G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic on Saturday, Prince Faisal's Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) exited the race well. A potential long-term goal for the bay is the G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp in October. Successful in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club and G2 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano at three for trainer John Gosden, who now trains with his son Thady, the 4-year-old colt saluted in the $20-million Saudi Cup on dirt in Riyadh on Feb. 20 before switching back to grass for his Meydan appearance. It was his first try at the Arc's 1 1/2-mile trip and he will now receive a freshening.

“I will discuss it with Prince Faisal, but it was always the plan to see if he could be an Arc horse and I think he proved he gets the mile and a half,” Gosden said of Mishriff on Racing TV's Luck On Sunday programme. “They went quick to the bend, then they slowed it up and he finished well, so I think he'll freshen for the summer.

“My feeling would be races like the Eclipse, the Juddmonte International, the Arc and the King George. Those are the races to be looking at and seeing where we are at the time. That's a long way off. He deserves a pretty good holiday.”

One race that is most likely off the table is the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar in the fall.

“Having had a lot of success at Del Mar over the years I do know that straight very well and I always feel they should pick up the finishing wire and move it another 100 yards down,” he said. “It's a very short straight and a different style of racing. You've got to have real tactical speed and you ping off the bend. This is a horse who enjoys the length of the straight. I don't think it's going to suit him.”

His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Mohammed Racing's Lord North (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), who won the G1 Dubai Turf earlier on the Dubai World Cup card, as well as the G1 Prince Of Wales's S. last June, will target the latter race after a break as well.

Gosden added of Lord North, “I think he'll go back for the Prince of Wales's S. again [at Royal Ascot]. We'll freshen him up now for the summer.”

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Indigo Girl Eyeing 1000 Guineas Day Reappearance

Group 1 bridesmaid Indigo Girl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) will return to the racecourse on May 2, G1 1000 Guineas Day at Newmarket, trainer John Gosden announced. However, she is not a certain starter in the first fillies' Classic in England, as the Listed Betfair Pretty Polly S. on the Guineas undercard is also under consideration. A winner of her first start at Yarmouth in August, the George Strawbridge homebred followed up with a win in the G2 May Hill S. at Doncaster in September prior to her second in the Oct. 9 G1 Fillies' Mile.

“The plan is to go to Newmarket the first weekend in May and she will be in two races,” Gosden, who trains with his son Thady and enjoyed a Group 1 double in Dubai on Saturday, said. “She is in the 1000 Guineas but she will also be put in the Pretty Polly. We will just see how she is before making a decision but that is the weekend we are training her for.

“She has had a good winter and we are quite happy with her. She has only done half speeds so far and she hasn't done any fast work yet.

“The deciding factor of which route we take will be how she is training at the time. If we have races like the Prix de Diane (French Oaks) in mind and we feel a mile and a quarter will suit her straight away, then we will go for that (Pretty Polly). If she is showing us the natural speed you want for the Guineas, then we would look at that instead.”

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David Egan ‘Very Excited’ To Reunite With Saudi Cup Winner Mishriff For Dubai Sheema Classic

Fresh from enjoying the biggest success in his still very young career, 2021 Saudi Cup-winning jockey David Egan is now hoping to add the Group 1 $5m Longines Dubai Sheema Classic to his growing record when he reunites with the John Gosden-trained Mishriff on Saturday.

Some racing fans were surprised that the 4-year-old son of Make Believe would line up at the start of the 2400m (1 1/2 miles) showdown, which is run on turf, rather than in the Dubai World Cup itself, but Egan explained: “The dirt in Dubai is not the same as the dirt in Saudi and I think the mile and a half will give him a pre-test run for the upcoming season.

“Whether they are aiming him at the top mile and a half races or whether they are thinking about dropping back for the remainder of the season. I think that he will stay and the Sheema Classic should be an exciting race.”

The 2021 season looks very promising for the 21-year-old jockey, who despite being the retained rider to Prince A A Faisal since 2020 was not on board Mishriff when he lifted the Prix du Jockey Club, also known as the French Derby, at Chantilly last year. Neither was he in Deauville when he won the Prix Guillaume d'Ornano, nor when he ran disappointingly in the Champion Stakes at Ascot.

“I won a Listed race with him at Newmarket and after that he was going for the French Derby, but by the time we knew he was going to France, I couldn't quarantine anymore,” the jockey who spent most of the winter in Bahrain explained. “The following time, I got a four-day suspension, and I couldn't move one of the days so I could definitely not ride him when Frankie rode him in Deauville. And the time after that, in the Champion Stakes, the Prince and Mr. Gosden decided that they wanted Frankie to ride him. He got beat and ran a bit disappointingly and then Prince Faisal requested me not long after that to ride him in the Saudi Cup.”

It couldn't have been easy to see other jockeys win on a horse that means the world to him but despite his young age, Egan is quite philosophical when he adds: “Whatever I was to do wouldn't change the fact that I wasn't going to be riding him. It was obviously fate that I wasn't meant to ride him on the other occasions. I'm not superstitious, but I believe the fact that I didn't ride him in the other races could have been a factor that I did ride him in the Saudi Cup and that we won the race. Maybe, if I had ridden him before and he got beat and ran bad, things might have gone differently for Mishriff and he might not have won the Saudi Cup. Things happen for a reason.”

Mishriff is not the only ride he will have on Dubai World Cup night, as he is also booked to ride the Ed Dunlop-trained Red Verdon in the Dubai Gold Cup Sponsored by Al Tayer Motors, the Simon Crisford-trained Court House in the Dubai Turf Sponsored by DP World, as well as Jane Chapple-Hyam's Ambassadorial in the Godolphin Mile Sponsored by Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City – District One.

“I'm very excited,” he concluded. “And if I win the Sheema Classic, I won't be complaining about the 10 days I will have to spend in quarantine in a hotel in England, will I?”

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