Knavesmire | Horse Racing Free Tips

Wood Ditton Hero Passenger Supplemented To Dante Field

The Niarcho Family's Passenger (Ulysses {Ire}) has been supplemented to the G2 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Dante S. at York on May 18. His addition brings the potential field to 14 runners.

Trained by Sir Michael Stoute, the Wood Ditton Maiden S. winner will follow the path of last year's G1 Derby winner Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), who won the Dante en route to Classic honours at Epsom. Connections paid £14,000 to supplement Passenger, who was scratched from the Listed Dee S. at Chester earlier this week due to ground concerns. The Betfred Derby will take place on Saturday, June 3, and Stoute's colt would also need to be supplemented to that contest, if all goes well on the Knavesmire.

Other entries for the York feature include Listed Blue Riband Trial hero Epictetus (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) from John and Thady Gosden, Flying Honours (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) for Charlie Appleby, and Dear My Friend (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) from the Charlie Johnston yard.

“We've got lots of excited owners on our hands at the moment,” said Middleham Park's Mike Prince of Listed Burradon S. winner Dear My Friend. “Very much the dream is still alive! We'll have a big crowd there next Thursday and they're just really excited, just to see how his season develops. The syndicate were absolutely delighted with his run at Newcastle–the form is working out nicely.

“Him and Flight Plan (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) had a ding-dong battle in the final furlong but he was quite comfortably on top in the last 100 yards and looked to be extending away.

“He's got a lovely, long stride on him and we think that stride-length will come into play when we step him up to a mile and two. We're pretty adamant that the step up in trip will suit him.”

Never to be discounted in a Classic prep is Aidan O'Brien, who has both the stakes-winning Cairo (Ire) (Quality Road) and two-for-two Continuous (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) entered, while John Murphy's G3 Ballysax S. hero White Birch (GB) (Uyllses {Ire}) is another possible starter. Listed winner Canberra Legend (Ire) (Australia {GB}), G2 Royal Lodge S. hero The Foxes (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}) and the Group 3-placed Dancing Magic (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), are also signed on.

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Emily Upjohn Out Of Yorkshire Oaks As Raclette Joins The Fray

The Andre Fabre-trained 'TDN Rising Star' Raclette (GB) (Frankel {GB}) who represents Juddmonte, has been added to the Aug. 18 G1 Yorkshire Oaks field, bringing the total number of entries at this stage to 12. A homebred, the daughter of Grade I winner Emollient (Empire Maker) won the G2 Prix de Malleret on Bastille Day last out. John and Thady Gosden's Oaks runner-up Emily Upjohn (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) is the latest defection.

Raclette will face the accomplished Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who is riding a six-race winning streak–the last four at Group 1 level–for breeder Kirsten Rausing and trainer Sir Mark Prescott. The grey mare most recently captured the G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud on July 3.

“I see there is a little bit of rain forecast in Yorkshire but the fast ground wouldn't inconvenience me, so I would prefer it if it didn't rain,” said Prescott.

“She did win her German Group 1s with plenty of cut in the ground so she's very versatile. What doesn't suit the others will suit me.

“It's a real privilege to be allowed to train her as a 5-year-old, but Miss Rausing is in a very unusual position that she has so many of the family, that while one of them is doing so well on the racecourse, she can afford to keep racing.

“She is adding value to the other horse whereas most people couldn't do that.”

Rausing could also have another runner in her colours in the Knavesmire race, the Ralph Beckett-trained Albaflora (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}).

Some of the other possibles at this stage include G1 Irish Oaks heroine Magical Lagoon (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) for Jessica Harrington, G1 Pretty Polly S. victress La Petite Coco (Ire) (Ruler Of The World {Ire}) from the Paddy Twomey yard, and three from Ballydoyle led by G1 Oaks scorer Tuesday (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

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All Is Well At York As Dante Leads Thursday’s Card

It's May, it's sunny, it's the Dante meeting in the county of England known as “God's Own Country” and we have a Sir Michael Stoute Derby plunge horse about to appear. While the kingpin of Newmarket is still prepared to train racehorses, there will continue to be moments like these and this time the bearer of the Freemason Lodge standard is the unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) in Thursday's G2 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Dante S. Bred at Gary Robinson's Teversham-based Strawberry Fields Stud, Saeed Suhail's 280,000gns Book 2 purchase looked a real prospect when winning the extended mile maiden at Nottingham in November won in recent times by Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) and Space Blues (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}). At 11-1 that day, it is safe to say the bay exceeded expectations but there will be far less mileage in his odds here after all the hullabaloo which has surrounded him of late. Stoute, who has the chance to equal the record of seven Dante winners set by his friend and rival, the late Sir Henry Cecil, has spoken of a setback which ruled out an earlier run and this trial has only just come around in time.

“Sir Michael is bringing him along very gradually, a month ago you certainly wouldn't have been thinking of winning any Derby but he's coming to hand now,” Saeed Suhail's racing manager Bruce Raymond said. “One thing about our horse is he'll stay very well and whatever he does in the Dante, he'll improve a lot for. He'd have to run well, but if he gets beat it doesn't automatically mean he wouldn't run in the Derby. He will be a decent horse in time.”

Will Experience Count?

While Desert Crown lacks seasoning, at the other end of that spectrum is Nas Syndicate and Tony O'Callaghan's G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud and G3 Prix de Conde winner El Bodegon (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), whose defeat of Stone Age (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and company in the latter contest looks stronger all the time. Trainer James Ferguson missed the chance to saddle a runner in the 1000 Guineas, but he is well on track to be involved in the G1 Cazoo Derby and all bar Highclere's G2 Royal Lodge S. and G3 Acomb S. winner Royal Patronage (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) have to improve to get to his level.

“He's the only Group 1 winner in the field and we've beaten the Derby favourite,” Ferguson said. “Stone Age looks progressive and has obviously done very well from two to three, but on paper you've got to be very happy with what we've got here in the yard.”

Jason Hart said of Royal Patronage, “His Acomb win here was good and there was no fluke in it–he has a great attitude and this course plays to his strengths.”

More Thunder Forecast

Night of Thunder (Ire) has already delivered a stunner at this meeting in Highfield Princess (Fr) and he is represented by the favourite in Thursday's G2 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Middleton Fillies' S. Heading Newtown Anner Stud Farm's duo is the Ger Lyons-trained impressive Listed Noblesse S. winner Thunder Kiss (Ire) (Night of Thunder {Ire}), who has been patiently handled by her trainer and gives the impression she is ready to produce something special. She is met by the Stoute duo Ville de Grace (GB) (Le Havre {Ire}) and Noon Star (Galileo {Ire}), with the former narrowly denied in Newmarket's G2 Dahlia S. over nine furlongs May 1, her latest honest and consistent effort. Juddmonte's 'TDN Rising Star' Noon Star is still an unknown quantity, but she has to be better than her workmanlike success in the Apr. 26 Listed Nottinghamshire Oaks.

“Hopefully she'll have progressed, she was off the track for a long while, so you'd hope there would be natural progression from the last run to this one,” Barry Mahon said.

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Knavesmire Action!

She may be named after a key character in a Marx Brothers film, but Emily Upjohn's “day at the races” is no laughing matter on Wednesday as the daughter of Sea the Stars (Ire) is concerned as she goes through the gears again in York's G3 Musidora S. at York. The Gosdens' latest 'TDN Rising Star' has already shown form good enough to make her presence felt in most renewals of the Epsom Classic and barring surprises here will be on the Downs with bells on on the first Friday in June. This extended 10-furlong test on the flat Knavesmire was actually threatening to become irrelevant as an Oaks trial prior to the romp of Snowfall (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) 12 months ago and it is a boon that it has attracted the current ante-post favourite. John Gosden sees her as more than just a now horse and said, “She's one of those fillies who will get better with age, because she certainly has the scope and frame to do it.”

Family Ties

In 2014, Madame Chiang (GB) (Archipenko) emerged on top in the Musidora for Kirsten Rausing and David Simcock and so the circle is complete as her daughter Ching Shih (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) takes part in her race for the same connections. She is every bit as unexposed as anything entered in the Oaks at present based on her four-length success in a mile Newbury novice in October. “She doesn't look anything like her mother, but she will probably be campaigned down a similar line,” Simcock commented. “Is Ching Shih similar? Probably the biggest similarity is she's going to be better when she gets softer ground. She is a relentless galloper.”

Setting the Tone

It's another big week for Shadwell and the G1 QIPCO British Champions Sprint S. third Minzaal (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) could set things rolling in the G2 1895 Duke of York Clipper Logistics S. on the card. Owen Burrows has been patient with the 2020 G2 Gimcrack S. winner and this year could be when he sees the reward for it. “Physically, he has really strengthened up this year and I've had a good preparation with him,” he said. “Obviously he was impressive in the Gimcrack at York and I think that proved he was certainly a quality horse.” After all the twists and turns of fate against Yoshiro Kubota's 'TDN Rising Star' Dragon Symbol (GB) (Cable Bay {Ire}) last term, a win on this debut for the Roger Varian stable could springboard him to new heights where he can leave all the bad fortune long in the past.

Click here for the group fields.

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