All Eyes On Chaldean In Greenham Return

Now that Indestructible (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) has boosted the 2000 Guineas credentials of Chaldean (GB) (Frankel {GB}) when winning Newmarket's G3 Craven S., it is up to the star of Andrew Balding's Kingsclere base to strengthen them further in a fascinating G3 Watership Down Stud Too Darn Hot Greenham S. at Newbury.

Relentless during a 2-year-old campaign that took in York's G3 Acomb S., Doncaster's G2 Champagne S. and the all-important G1 Dewhurst S. at Newmarket, the chestnut offers perhaps the sternest competition to Ballydoyle's pair of loaded guns in a fortnight's time but first he has to get through soft ground again as he did at Doncaster.

“Like all of these trials, he's not 100% tuned up, but he's fit and well and ready to run a good race and we will see where that takes us,” Juddmonte's racing manager Barry Mahon explained. “These trials are so tight, it's only two weeks to the Guineas from Newbury, so you don't want to go there 100% and have a hard race and leave your Guineas behind. He'll be 85 to 90% and in good form and as long as he runs a race with promise, no matter where he finishes, it will build us into the Guineas in two weeks time.”

 

Into The Heat Of Battle

Up against Chaldean is KHK Racing's unbeaten TDN Rising Star Knight (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), who overcame heavy ground in the G3 Horris Hill S. over this course and seven-furlong distance in October. Into black-type company for the first time, the similarly unbeaten money-spinner Streets Of Gold (Ire) (Havana Gold {Ire}) and impressive Doncaster novice scorer Theoryofeverything (GB) (Frankel {GB}) add weight to a Classic trial far deeper than its Newmarket equivalent.

Thady Gosden said of the latter, “He is a smartly-bred colt, so we decided he should take his chance in a very competitive race. It is as strong a Greenham as we have seen for a while, with plenty of smart horses in there and obviously it will be only his second run of his life. He is a good-moving colt who obviously handled deep ground at Doncaster and he'll handle the ground at Newbury.”

 

Is She Remarqu-able?

If the Greenham is hot, the G3 Fred Darling S. is equally intriguing despite not boasting a standout performer like Chaldean. Any one of the unexposed fillies in the line-up could burst on to the 1000 Guineas scene and one who is attracting notable support is Julian Richmond-Watson's smooth Salisbury novice winner Remarquee (GB) (Kingman {GB}). From the family of the Oaks heroine Look Here (GB) (Hernando {Fr}), the Ralph Beckett trainee has something to find on bare form but has abundant promise and will be doing all her best work at the finish. “She has done well this winter. She will need the run, but she is training well,” Beckett simply said.

 

Clarehaven Ambitions Clear

John and Thady Gosden are still looking for Guineas candidates and throw three at this with Godolphin's Yarmouth novice scorer Bridestones (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), a daughter of White Moonstone (Dynaformer), and Lady Bamford's Doncaster maiden winner Soul Sister (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) the ones with genuine potential. Amo Racing's golden spell could continue with Magical Sunset (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), who issued a five-length beating to another Gosden runner here in Fully Wet (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) in the course-and-distance Listed Radley S. in October. It is worth remembering that she beat Sakheer (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) on debut at Windsor in August, a point that Amo's racing manager Tom Pennington was ken to stress on Friday.

“To beat Sakheer on debut on quick ground at Windsor was impressive and she was a bit unlucky not to win the Goffs Million at the Curragh, she suffered some really bad interference at halfway. We thought she would run well at Newbury but we didn't think she would win by five lengths, so we were delighted by that. Richard [Hannon] is very happy with her and she has been showing him all the right signs at home.”

 

Making Up For Lost Time

In Newbury's opening G3 John Porter S., Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) bids to remind all what he is made of after a frustrating 2022 campaign. Denied a clear run at any stage by the lengthy dry spell, one of the previous season's leading lights is re-opposed by old foe Mojo Star (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) who also showed up only briefly as a 4-year-old.

“You cannot fault the horse at home. He retains all his old zest and he looks great,” Charlie Appleby said of Hurricane Lane. “We will know early in his 5-year-old campaign whether or not the Arc is a realistic target.”

In front of Hurricane Lane in the 2021 Derby but behind him in the Irish equivalent and St Leger, Amo Racing's older flagship Mojo Star split the staying giants Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in Royal Ascot's G1 Gold Cup on what was to be a notable sole visit to the races last term.

Trainer Richard Hannon said, “He's done plenty of work and been away to gallop, so should be pretty straight. But this is his first run in a while, so he's entitled to improve for it and we're working back from the Ascot Gold Cup. I'm very happy with him and while the trip is on the short side, this is a good place to kick off his season.”

 

Big Guns Re-Emerge At Navan

At Navan, the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Committed S. sees a star cast assemble in Ballydoyle's G1 Middle Park S. runner-up The Antarctic (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and G2 Futurity S.-winning 'TDN Rising Star' Aesop's Fables (Ire) (No Nay Never) and The Aga Khan's G2 Railway S. winner Shartash (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), with Royal Ascot's sprints on the horizon.

Starting the road to the G1 Gold Cup at that meeting are the impressive G3 Loughbrown S. scorer Emily Dickinson (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and fellow Aidan O'Brien-trained Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the Listed Vintage Crop S. which is often the launchpad for the stable's key stayers.

The 2023 Oaks contenders take in the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Salsabil S., with another from Rosegreen in the Naas maiden scorer Jackie Oh (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) looking set to start favourite. Out of Jacqueline Quest (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}), the Triermore Stud colour-bearer encounters Flaxman Stables' Foniska (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a daughter of the 2015 Salsabil winner Bocca Baciata (Ire) (Big Bad Bob {Ire}) from the same Jessica Harrington yard.

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Horris Hill Success For Mehmas’s Knight

Bringing TDN Rising Star status into Saturday's G3 Virgin Bet Horris Hill S. at Newbury, KHK Racing's Knight (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}–Fidaaha {Ire}, by New Approach {Ire}) emerged from an intriguing renewal of the seven-furlong staging post with reputation enhanced as he proved top dog among the Classic hopefuls.

Tackling testing ground having operated with style on good-to-soft on his impressive debut at Yarmouth Sept. 25, the Simon and Ed Crisford-trained full-brother to the G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte and G3 Prix Imprudence winner and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and G1 Prix de la Foret runner-up Malavath (Ire) found cover behind the front-running Grey's Monument (GB) (Territories {Ire}) and when asked to take on that rival by David Egan inside the final two furlongs responded generously.

Asserting from the furlong pole, the 10-1 shot had 1 3/4 lengths to spare over the long-time leader at the line, with a further length back to Ancestral Land (GB) (Sioux Nation) in third.

“That was very impressive,” Egan said. “I rode him at home before his debut and he's really physically improved since then in a short space of time. He was a different horse today–he raced very economically throughout and showed greenness but really picked up his knees and grabbed the ground. He's very exciting for next year–if a 2-year-old can gallop out on those deep conditions over seven you'd be very confident that he'd get a mile. He's got to be respected now he's won a Horris Hill.”

Ed Crisford added, “It was hard to guess what he achieved on his first start, but he'd trained well after it. His sister gets through this ground with a high knee action and we were hopeful he would. He's an exciting colt and probably a Guineas horse who will go for a trial–the Craven or the Greenham. The owners are having a great year, winning the Leger and the Mill Reef and they have a few with us.”

 

Pedigree Notes

Knight, who cost 210,000gns at the Book 2 Sale, is the second foal out of the Shadwell cast-off Fidaaha after the aforementioned Malavath, who showed her appreciation of this kind of ground when two-lengths second to Kinross (GB) (Kingman {GB}) in the Foret three weeks ago. She is a full-sister to the GIII Robert G. Dick Memorial S. winner Ceisteach (Ire) and a half to Steip Amach (Ire) (Vocalised) who annexed the G3 Killavullan S. and G3 Amethyst S. before finishing third in the G1 Prix Rothschild and G1 Prix Jean Romanet.

The third dam Sharafanya (Ire) (Zafonic) is kin to the G2 Goldene Peitsche winner Giant Sandman (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) and to the listed-placed dam of the G1 Prix de l'Opera heroine Shalanaya (Ire) (Lomitas {GB}). This is the family of the great Shergar (GB). Fidaaha, who cost Tally Ho Stud a mere €15,000 at the 2017 Goffs November Mares Sale, is also responsible for the filly by Cotai Glory (GB) who sold to Ken Condon for €200,000 at last month's Goffs Orby. Her 2022 foal is a full-brother to the winner and Malavath.

 

Saturday, Newbury, Britain
VIRGIN BET HORRIS HILL S.-G3, £50,000, Newbury, 10-22, 2yo, c/g, 7fT, 1:29.79, hy.
1–KNIGHT (IRE), 128, c, 2, by Mehmas (Ire)
                1st Dam: Fidaaha (Ire), by New Approach (Ire)
                2nd Dam: Ceist Eile (Ire), by Noverre
                3rd Dam: Sharafanya (Ire), by Zafonic
   1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GROUP WIN. TDN Rising Star.
(210,000gns Ylg '21 TATOCT). O-KHK Racing; B-Tally Ho Stud
(IRE); T-Simon & Ed Crisford; J-David Egan. £28,355. Lifetime
Record: 2-2-0-0, $37,309. *Full to Malavath (Ire), MGSW &
G1SP-Fr, GISP-US, $466,261. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple
   Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or click
   for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Grey's Monument (GB), 128, c, 2, Territories (Ire)–Matron Of
Honour (Ire), by Teofilo (Ire). 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GROUP
   BLACK TYPE. (20,000gns RNA Wlg '20 TATFOA; €65,000 Ylg
'21 GOFOR). O-Tracey Ashbee; B-Mr W A Tinkler (GB); T-Ralph
Beckett. £10,750.
3–Ancestral Land (GB), 128, c, 2, Sioux Nation–Swing Out Sister
(Ire), by Kodiac (GB). 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GROUP BLACK
   TYPE. (140,000gns Ylg '21 TATOCT). O-Isa Salman Al Khalifa;
B-Aston Mullins Stud & S Barrow Esq (GB); T-Clive Cox. £5,380.
Margins: 1 3/4, 1, 4. Odds: 10.00, 4.50, 18.00.
Also Ran: Caragio (Ire), Promoter (GB), Lord Of Biscay (Ire), Defence Of Fort (Ire), Oviedo (Ire), Striking Star (GB). VIDEO.

 

 

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Mehmas’s Knight A New Rising Star At Yarmouth

KHK Racing's stellar September continued on Sunday as the Simon and Ed Crisford-trained Knight (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}–Fidaaha {Ire}, by New Approach {Ire}) stormed to success at Yarmouth to become the latest of the TDN Rising Star juveniles of 2022. Always travelling strongly in second for Cameron Noble after a tardy break in this seven-furlong Sky Sports Racing Sky 415 “Newcomers” Maiden S., the 11-2 shot took command three out and was busy surging clear a furlong later. Chased by the €370,000 Arqana Deauville August graduate Irregular Warfare (Fr) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}) in the closing stages, the full-brother to Malavath (Ire) kept him at bay to score by two lengths, with another 3 3/4 lengths back to the Gosdens' strongly-supported 6-4 favourite Rajasthan (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) in third.

“They went quite steady and the leader took me as far as he could, but ideally I needed something to take me further as he's still quite raw,” Noble said of the sire's first TDN Rising Star. “He's a nice individual and I'd say he wouldn't want it too much quicker than that. He could be anything–he did that smartly considering he is quite green.”

Knight, who cost 210,000gns at the Book 2 Sale, is the second foal out of the Shadwell cast-off whose first was the aforementioned Malavath, winner of the G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte and G3 Prix Imprudence and runner-up in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Fidaaha is a full-sister to Ceisteach (Ire), who captured the GIII Robert G. Dick Memorial S., and a half to Steip Amach (Ire) (Vocalised) who annexed the G3 Killavullan S. and G3 Amethyst S. before finishing third in the G1 Prix Rothschild and G1 Prix Jean Romanet. Her filly by Cotai Glory (GB) sells as lot 459 from Tally-Ho Stud at the Goffs Orby Sale on Wednesday, while she also has a foal full-brother to the winner and Malavath.

2nd-Yarmouth, £9,000, Mdn, 9-25, 2yo, 7f 3yT, 1:27.85, g/s.
KNIGHT (IRE), c, 2, by Mehmas (Ire)
     1st Dam: Fidaaha (Ire), by New Approach (Ire)
     2nd Dam: Ceist Eile (Ire), by Noverre
     3rd Dam: Sharafanya (Ire), by Zafonic
(210,000gns Ylg '21 TATOCT). Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $5,273. O-KHK Racing; B-Tally Ho Stud (IRE); T-Simon & Ed Crisford. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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