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Royal Ascot: Irish Kingpins Dominate The Features

Royal Ascot Friday sees the Irish contingent to the fore as TDN Rising Stars Tahiyra (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) and Little Big Bear (Ire) (No Nay Never) exercise iron grips on the feature G1 Coronation S. and G1 Commonwealth Cup respectively. While the former flashed her considerable talent just twice as a juvenile, Ballydoyle's champion of 2022 domineered his way through three important black-type tests before injury halted his momentum. Now the winner of the Irish 1000 Guineas, Tahiyra comfortably has the measure of chief rival Meditate (Ire) (No Nay Never) so far in her career but if there is one thing Dermot Weld will know about beating Ballydoyle is that you have to do it again and again and maintain your level.

Little Big Bear, who became the latest in a line of his stable's big guns to miss a beat in the 2000 Guineas, may actually get a mile in time but while he is so comfortable at these sprint trips and Paddington (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}) is around it is a case of back to basics. As he sauntered back to winning ways in the G2 Sandy Lane S., it was as if that dull day at Newmarket where his brilliance was diminished never happened. Intriguingly, it was an experience shared with his key opponent and fellow TDN Rising Star Sakheer (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), who also struggled to cope with his speed edge bludgeoned by conditions on the Rowley Mile.

Sakheer's trainer Roger Varian was giving off all the right vibes on Thursday. “He looks like he could still be a high-class colt, we certainly believe he can be, and we're looking forward to Friday,” he said. “He had an easy time after the Guineas and we were always going to come to Ascot, but he's built up over the last few weeks into this race nicely, his work has been on point, he's been really well and we're hopeful.”

Newmarket woes also apply to the case of Lezoo (GB) (Zoustar {Aus}), who was among the backwash in the 1000 Guineas and now gravitates back to her comfort zone. She has to improve even off her G1 Cheveley Park S. win, which puts her on a virtual par with the now-retired Middle Park hero Blackbeard (Ire) (No Nay Never) who was always a few pounds adrift of Ballydoyle's champion last term. She and Sakheer are joined by the G2 Gimcrack S.-winning TDN Rising Star Noble Style (GB) (Kingman {GB}), so disappointing behind the revelation Shaquille (GB) (Charm Spirit {Ire}) in Newbury's Listed Carnarvon S. last time, in having a lot to find with an elite Little Big Bear but this is Royal Ascot where certainties have a way of unravelling.

The Gosdens showed on Wednesday and Thursday that they are never to be left out of the group 1 equation and despite her obvious experience deficit, Normandie Stud's TDN Rising Star Queen For You (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) goes into the Coronation which her dam Fallen For You (GB) (Dansili {GB}) won in 2012 as very much a live contender. It's not just about pedigree with her, however, as her performance when narrowly denied by Sounds Of Heaven (GB) (Kingman {GB}) with the run of the race favouring that Jessie Harrington raider in York's Listed Michael Seely Memorial S. confirmed her as a major talent.

“She is the least experienced in the field, but improved when upped in class at York and has taken that in her stride,” Thady said. “This is another major step up, but we feel she has every right to take her chance.” Kate Harrington added of Sounds Of Heaven, “She is lovely filly and a very underestimated filly who only does as much as she has to. She has a great mind and I think Ascot will really suit her. We're hopeful of a big, big run.”

In the opening G3 Albany S., the Crisfords' impressive Doncaster maiden winner Carla's Way (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) will have an abundance of followers now that the time performance of that defeat of the subsequent 11-length-winning TDN Rising Star Star Of Mystery (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) is known. Lezoo's half-sister Navassa Island (Ire) (Territories {Ire}), now the property of Ecurie Ama Zingteam, also wowed with her sectionals despite going down to the re-opposing Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio) on a spectacular debut in Naas's G3 Coolmore Stud Irish EBF Fillies Sprint S.

TDN Rising Stars Matrika (Ire) (No Nay Never) and Persian Dreamer (Calyx {GB}) are just two more in the mix in the Albany, which for the past three years has featured the following season's 1000 Guineas heroine in the beaten trio Mawj (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), Cachet (Ire) (Aclaim {Ire}) and Mother Earth (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}). Interestingly, the Newmarket maiden taken by Mawj and Cachet prior to meeting their match here was won last month by Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum's Jabaara (Ire), another daughter of Exceed And Excel with big hopes attached. “She will like the fast ground if it stays that way and six furlongs looks her trip for the moment,” Varian said. “She's an exciting filly, I think.”

Amo Racing broke their duck at the Royal meeting on Thursday and the racing and operations manager Tom Pennington is excited about their representative here. “I haven't lost any faith in Persian Dreamer, she was very impressive on debut,” he said. “The sharp five furlongs on quick ground at York in the Marygate has probably played against her and she didn't let herself down. She's a big, strong filly and just didn't enjoy the ground.”

In the day's other pattern race, the presence of Amo Racing's Derby runner-up King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}) has ensured a small line-up, with a trio of Derby disappointments engaged headed by Juddmonte's Arrest (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Jeff Smith's Artistic Star (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). Roger Varian is keen to come back quickly from the Blue Riband, the form of which received a major boost with the win of Waipiro (Ire) (Australia {GB}) here on Thursday. “He has looked great from the day he got back from Epsom and is in good form,” he said. “He looked very good in defeat and that bodes well for this week, the rest of the season and beyond hopefully. These races are not easy to win, but he looks like a horse who will take us to the big spots and we look forward to Friday.”

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Heady Action Gets Underway at Newmarket

Heading into a weekend when celebration is the keyword in Britain, Newmarket's three-day QIPCO Guineas Festival begins on Friday with some action designed to build the intensity towards the main events. Fittingly, the fixture's opener is the Listed Newmarket S., the race once used by the Derby-winning icons Shirley Heights (GB) and Slip Anchor (GB) and this year hosting one of The King and Queen Consort's outside squeaks at a blue riband runner in Circle Of Fire (GB) (Almanzor {Fr}). Just a Salisbury novice winner at present, the colt bred by The Queen who derives from Juddmonte royalry has that additional edge of being with Sir Michael Stoute, who proved in 2022 that the art of expertise and longstanding experience still counts for plenty in the kiln of modern-day racing.

What Next For Waipiro?
Another unexposed colt in the Newmarket S. is the Ed Walker-trained Waipiro (Ire) (Australia {GB}), who looked so assured over this 10-furlong trip and track at the Craven meeting. A half-brother to the Hong Kong star Waikuku (Ire) (Harbour Watch {Ire}), the bay promises to spark pre-Derby excitement at the Upper Lambourn set-up much as English King (Fr) (Camelot {GB}) did three years ago. “We want to find out sooner or later if he is a horse who could be lining up at Epsom, so really he needs to be winning this in order to do so,” Walker said. “He's got to take another step forwards, he took a big step forwards from his debut and he's got to take another tomorrow.”

Another Hurricane Season In The Offing?
Even if the Newmarket S. does not host a genuine Derby colt, five races in there is the chance to witness one who has already traversed that particular terrain in Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}). Clearly, the horse who failed to beat a rival in Newbury's G3 John Porter S. is a shadow of the one who bounded out of Epsom's Blue Riband two years ago and completed a not-inconsequential treble of Irish Derby, Grand Prix de Paris and St Leger and went close in an Arc. Will cheekpieces focus that racing mind to tune back in with the outstanding physicality? The G2 Jockey Club S., one of Newmarket's most consistently uncompetitive yet undeniably intriguing annual happenings, will tell us.

Charlie Appleby has come to use the two racecourses of the town's Heathland almost as his private domain in recent years and this is another big afternoon, especially with Godolphin's champion 2-year-old of 2021 and G1 Irish 2000 Guineas hero Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) also in action in the G2 bet365 Mile. Switched from the flooded Sandown and much-changed in make-up from the version that was due to take place a week previously, it is one of two races saved from that fixture and now an ideal launchpad for the colt who looked to have the world at his feet as he went to post for the Saturday Classic 12 months ago. With a pair of colts engaged in the Newmarket S. and the course-and-distance conditions winner Majestic Pride (GB) (Shamardal) in the seven-furlong Listed King Charles II S., this is very much another day at the office for Moulton Paddocks but there is certainly no contempt in this familiarity with this verdant landscape perfectly complemented by the army in royal blue livery.

Ballydoyle Big Guns Drawn Together In Guineas Poser
As the confirmations for Saturday's G1 Qipco 2000 Guineas were unveiled on Thursday morning, Aidan O'Brien made the only scratching of the race as he took out Cairo (Ire) (Quality Road) but more importantly affirmed that there would be no ducking out of an encounter between two of the most talented colts to have raced for the stable in recent times. While the destinies of the TDN Rising Stars Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Little Big Bear (Ire) (No Nay Never) are certain to play out independently of the other after the mile Classic, this is where they will both begin their keenly-anticipated second-season odysseys and by an act of strange fortune they were positioned alongside each other in stalls 12 and 13 respectively.

As expected, Ryan Moore has picked the potentially “special” one who comes back to England having fired his salvo the G1 Futurity Trophy in the autumn, while Wayne Lordan takes his longstanding behind-closed-doors link-up with the brilliant 2-year-old master of 2022 Little Big Bear into the open for the first time. Following The King's momentous Coronation on Saturday, talk of Crowning in this sphere will evolve around the lore of Britain's Triple, not achieved by a colt since Nijinsky in 1970. It was notable how enthusiastic O'Brien was for Auguste Rodin's prospects of this daunting feat in his Great British Racing press conference this week.
“Obviously the Triple Crown is a very hard thing to do, but sometime it would be great to do it,” he said of the colt whose pull is so potent it meant that Ryan Moore was remarkably deserted a champion 2-year-old who would have been hot property in most of the preceding renewals. “It is a difficult type of horse to find, because they have to have a lot of class and they have to have pace enough to run in the Guineas. It is really class that those horses have to have. It's pure class and class gives them stamina and gives them speed. We just thought that, at the moment, he fits into that bracket really well.”

What Effect The Draw?
Quite where Auguste Rodin and Little Big Bear sit if the race becomes tactical, as it can on the Rowley Mile, remains to be seen and an unclear weather forecast leading up to Saturday does invite the possibility of watering and the prospect of favoured patches of ground. Twelve months ago, much was made of the meeting's bias toward low numbers with Coroebus (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) upstaging Native Trail as they came from opposite ends of the draw on good ground. There is also the question of where the early pace lies, with Juddmonte's G1 Dewhurst S. hero Chaldean (GB) (Frankel {GB}) who was so comfortable from the front at two being draw in stall three and Ahmad Al Shaikh's G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud winner Dubai Mile (Ire) (Roaring Lion) certain to help force the pace in six.
This is a tough Guineas to predict in terms of tactics, but as far as providing a level playing field it is Clerk of the Course Michael Prosser who has the responsibility. “We have just lightly watered the final eight furlongs, which is the quickest part of the course,” he said in his update at noon on Thursday. “The forecast has changed, basically. At this time yesterday, we were forecast rain first thing in the morning and obviously into the afternoon, so that forecast now advises those showers will be coming later. We have put down 4mm to maintain the position. The final eight furlongs is all but done.”

“Even the Saturday forecast has changed and the volumes don't look as significant, although there is a more organised band of rain coming through mid-morning Saturday through to lunchtime,” he added. “What we're being told this morning is that there might be a dry interlude during racing, which will be really helpful if that is how it unfolded.”

Buick Opts For Silver Over Style…
With memories of 12 months ago fresh in the mind, William Buick has had another difficult choice to make in the 2000 Guineas as he bids to atone for missing out on Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}). While the lure of the unbeaten TDN Rising Star and G2 Gimcrack S. winner Noble Style (GB) (Kingman {GB}) is obvious, he has stuck with the G3 Solario S. and G3 Autumn S. winner and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf runner-up Silver Knott (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), who will part from the middle stall in seven. “Noble Style is a Gimcrack winner and unbeaten, so he's a high-class horse too, but he's stepping up two furlongs to a mile,” he told QIPCO British Champions Series as he justified his choice of the colt already proven at the trip.

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Chaldean One Of A Score Of Colts In Guineas At Latest Entry Stage

Despite losing Frankie Dettori once the gates flew in the G3 Greenham S. on Saturday, Juddmonte's Chaldean (GB) (Frankel {GB}) remains part of the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas field. After Tuesday's latest scratching stage, 20 colts are still entered in the first Classic of the British season on Saturday, May 6.

A winner of four of his six starts, the G1 Dewhurst S. hero is one of two in the one-mile race for Andrew Balding. Second in the Dewhurst, G2 Richmond S. scorer Royal Scotsman (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) will attempt to turn the tables for Mrs. Fitri Hay and trainers Paul and Oliver Cole.

Ahmad Al Shaikh's G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud winner Dubai Mile (Ire) (Roaring Lion) remains in the race for Charlie Johnston, as do the Godolphin/Charlie Appleby pair of G2 Gimcrack S. winner Noble Style (GB) (Kingman {GB}) and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf runner-up Silver Knott (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}).

The Coolmore partners and Aidan O'Brien field a quintet led by Group 1 scorers Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Little Big Bear (Ire) (No Nay Never). G3 Killavullan S. hero Cairo (Ire) (Quality Road) is also signed on, as is G3 2000 Guineas Trial S. winner Hans Andersen (GB) (Frankel {GB}).

Third behind Auguste Rodin and Tuesday's Listed Weatherbys Digital Solutions Blue Riband Trial hero Epictetus (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) in the Vertem Futurity Trophy, Holloway Boy (GB) (Ulysses {Ire}) is one of three in the race for Karl Burke. Burke runner Indestructible (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), who won the G3 Craven S. over the course-and-distance of the Guineas, will also take part. Group winners Charyn (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and Sakheer (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) hail from the stable of Roger Varian.

There is also still a chance of a royal runner, as the King and Queen Consort's two-for-two Slipofthepen (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) has also retained his entry for John and Thady Gosden.

In the fillies' equivalent on Sunday, May 7, 26 nominees have stood their ground, among them Group 1 winners Lezoo (GB) (Zoustar {Aus}), Meditate (Ire) (No Nay Never), and Tahiyra (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) for trainers Ralph Beckett, Aidan O'Brien, and Dermot Weld, respectively.

Beckett has also entered G3 Fred Darling S. heroine Remarquee (GB) (Kingman {GB}), while Hugo Palmer trains the runner-up in Stenton Glider (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}). Juddmonte's Juliet Siera (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}), a Group 3 winner, is also part of Beckett's Guineas challenge.

The first and second-place finishers from the G3 Nell Gwyn S. also have entries in Mammas Girl (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) for Richard Hannon and Fairy Cross (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) for Charlie Appleby. Saeed bin Suroor's G2 Duchess Of Cambridge S. heroine and G1 Cheveley Park S. third Mawj (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) has been entered. G2 May Hill S. heroine Polly Pott (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}) for trainer Ben Pauling is also part of the fray.

O'Brien is double-fisted in the Guineas, as his G3 1000 Guineas Trial S. victress Never Ending Story (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) defeated Kieran Cotter's Matilda Picotte (Ire) (Sioux Nation) by 2 1/2 lengths at Leopardstown earlier this month.

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Appleby Outlines Targets For Stable Stars In The New Year

Charlie Appleby, fresh off two consecutive UK trainers' titles, will have a host of stars to go to war with in 2023, among them Godolphin's undefeated G2 Gimcrack S. hero Noble Style (GB) (Kingman {GB}). The son of listed winner and Group 3-placed Eartha Kitt (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), named a 'TDN Rising Star' off his winning debut at Ascot in May, is earmarked for the G3 Greenham S. in April, before a possible bid for G1 2000 Guineas glory in May.

He said, “Noble Style has not been seen since winning the Gimcrack impressively. He had the colic setback but he is fine and is back in work. He will probably start off in the Greenham down at Newbury as he has got a lot of natural speed which we have seen.

“Staying is the question mark. On pedigree, there is strong enough evidence that he should stay the mile but at the end of the day he has got to prove on track he can get the extra two furlongs. As we stand at the moment he is a serious Guineas contender.”

Another horse with Classic aims is Mysterious Night (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), the winner of the GI Summer S. overseas at Woodbine in Canada last September.

“A horse that we have not seen since he won emphatically in Canada is Mysterious Night,” he added. “I think he is a horse that deserves to put in those trials in the spring to see where we are. The way he has developed and the scope he has puts him in the picture.

“You also have to put Silver Knott (GB) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) in there. He only went down by a short head in the [GI] Breeders' Cup Juvenile [Turf] which is a race we have used with horses that have tasted Classic success, i.e. Modern Games. He is definitely in the Guineas mix.”

Appleby is also blessed with a bevy of potential G1 Derby horses, among them listed winner Local Dynasty (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and G3 Zetland S. hero Flying Honours (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}).

“As for the Derby you have Local Dynasty, who won the Silver Tankard at Pontefract and Flying Honours who won the Zetland S. at Newmarket, which can be good 2-year-old races which are good pointers for the Derby.

“There is also Imperial Emperor (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), who won smartly in his maiden at Newmarket and Castle Way (GB) (Almanzor {Fr}) who won the valuable nursery at Newmarket over a mile and a quarter quite impressively. These are all horses that will be in the Derby trials in the spring.”

Quadruple top-level victor Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) stays in training, as does G1 Irish 2000 Guineas victor Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}).

He said, “Native Trail looks great and we have him staying in training as does Modern Games in that mile camp and in the sprinting division you have got little Creative Force (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}).

“Stepping up to the mile and a quarter you have Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), who we missed for much of this season, then over a mile and a half you have the likes of Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), Yibir (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and New London (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}). There should be some good war horses there.

“As you know it can be a long winter but they are all doing well. It won't be long until the middle of January then we will be back on the treadmill as they say.”

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