Westover On Track For Derby But Eydon Not A Certain Starter

Ralph Becket is a man who knows a thing or two about Epsom glory, given he trained Look Here (GB) (Hernando {GB}) and Talent (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) to win the Oaks, and he will be bidding to make the Cazoo Derby breakthrough with Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who was reported to have had a positive experience at the track on Monday. 

Meanwhile, Roger Varian revealed that 2000 Guineas fourth Eydon (Ire) (Olden Times {GB}) was not a certain starter in the Derby, despite the fact the trainer was impressed with the colt's exercise at the same gallops morning.

Westover, winner of the G3 Classic Trial at Sandown last month, is a general 16-1 chance to win the Derby, with Beckett providing an upbeat bulletin on the colt after he breezed around Epsom. 

Beckett said, “He got his act together and came down the hill and round the bend as well as we wanted him to and he galloped out strong as well. I thought it was good work. It was all positive as these things can go the wrong way as well.

“They went a nice gallop and he finished well. I'm not sure he is that bothered about the ground. I thought he would handle it when he ran on slow ground in the Silver Tankard at Pontefract and he did and I think fast ground is no problem for him either.”

He added: “It doesn't look like the trip will be an issue. There was a bit of a question mark over his full brother Fabilis (GB). There was a bit of debate if he would get a mile and half and he looked really good the only time we ran him over a mile and a half, but he got sold straight after it so I've no doubts he will get it.

“His trial was a long time ago but I didn't really see any benefit of running him again. I thought the benefit would be from running him here. The benefit was in an away day and not another run.”

A late decision will be made on Eydon's Derby participation, according to Varian, who suggested the Prix du Jockey Club was also firmly in the mix for the colt. 

Varian said, “David (Egan) was very upbeat and happy with the feel he got from the horse and how he handled the undulations.

“He switched leads at the right times and what we wanted to achieve today I think that box has been ticked and he looks in good order to me. 

“He is still in the Prix du Jockey Club and is not a guaranteed Epsom starter. He could take in either and he will be left in both races and likely it could be a late call, so for punters that is worth noting.”

He added, “Prince Faisal (owner) will ultimately decide but we will digest what the horse has done this morning and see how he comes out of his work. It is a lovely position to be in as he is in both races. He gets trained for the same weekend so we don't have to alter the training regime, and it affords us the luxury we can make the late call.”

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Kingman’s Book 1 Sensation scorches To TDN Rising Stardom

There was a buzz at the seaside track of Yarmouth surrounding Akhu Najla (GB) (Kingman {GB}) on Tuesday and the Roger Varian-trained half-brother to Galileo Gold (GB) (Paco Boy {Ire}) did not disappoint as he became the latest TDN Rising Star in 2022. Now the 17th of that ilk for the Banstead Manor resident, KHK Racing Ltd's top-priced colt at the 2020 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1 at 2.7million guineas slammed the well-regarded Gosden runner Knight of Honour (Ire) (Decorated Knight {GB}) in the Norfolk venue's QuinnBet Best Odds Guaranteed Maiden S. over a mile. A neck second to Shadwell's exciting Ikhtiraaq (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) when Knight of Honour was a short head back in third on debut over seven furlongs at Leicester in October, the 8-11 shot travelled easily for David Egan racing away from the remainder in a share of the early lead. In command before he was shaken up approaching the furlong marker, the bay opened up to beat his old rival by 6 1/2 lengths as Canters Well (Ire) (Caravaggio), who had useful form in Ireland last term, chased the runner-up a further 3 1/4 lengths away.

Varian is looking at the Listed Heron S. at Sandown May 26, with a view to using that race as a stepping stone to the June 14 G1 St James's Palace S. at the Royal meeting. Interestingly, that was also the route taken in 2018 by Without Parole (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who had also impressed at Yarmouth when making his 3-year-old bow at this meeting. “That was impressive and I think we'll stick to the mile with him just now, although he could get further,” his trainer said.

The aforementioned Galileo Gold, who was the first foal out of Galicuix (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), captured the G1 2000 Guineas and St James's Palace as well as the G2 Vintage S., MG1SW-Eng, G1SP-Fr, G1SP-Ire, $1,369,565. Galicuix is a half to Goldream (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), who took the G1 King's Stand S., G1 Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp and G3 Palace House S., while the third dam Cuixmala (Fr) (Highest Honor {Fr}) is a half-sister to the brilliant European champion and distinguished sire Montjeu (Ire). After Akhu Najla, the dam has a yearling filly by Too Darn Hot (GB).

3rd-Great Yarmouth, £7,300, Mdn, 4-26, 3yo/up, 8f 3yT, 1:35.39, g/f.
AKHU NAJLA (GB), c, 3, by Kingman (GB)
     1st Dam: Galicuix (GB), by Galileo (Ire)
     2nd Dam: Clizia (Ire), by Machiavellian
     3rd Dam: Cuixmala (Fr), by Highest Honor (Fr)
(2,700,000gns Ylg '20 TATOCT). Lifetime Record: 2-1-1-0, $8,469. O-KHK Racing Ltd; B-Pantile Stud (GB); T-Roger Varian. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Race replay.

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Eydon Camp Mulls 2000 Guineas Option

The Listed bet365 Feilden S. hero Eydon (Ire) (Olden Times {GB}), emerged from his win in good order and is still under consideration for the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas, owner Prince Faisal's racing advisor Ted Voute revealed on Wednesday. Although the Roger Varian trainee has been left in the entries for that Newmarket Classic, his long-term target remains the G1 Cazoo Derby at Epsom on June 4.

“I went to see him on Monday and he looked magnificent, so I relayed that information to the Prince, who is still in Saudi Arabia and after discussions with Roger as well, we have left him in the Guineas for the time being to keep all the options open,” said Voute.

“The Prince has said the best trial for the Derby is the Guineas, so that is definitely on our mind, but it's just the timing from the Feilden to the Guineas is the shortest of all the options we have, so that's really why we're sitting and deliberating.

“Going down to Newmarket myself and having a look at him was one of the pieces of the puzzle, which I fed back into the system and as a result we've left him in. Sometimes you're forced to make decisions before you want to make them, but by leaving him in the race it buys us a week.”

He added: “Obviously, we've got the likes of Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) and some very good horses to face up to, but you don't become the best unless you race against them and the Prince has never been shy, he likes to race them at the top table if they are good enough.

“He's 25-1 for the Guineas and I wonder if he was by Frankel (GB) out of an Olden Times mare he would be shorter in the betting, but he's by Olden Times out of a Frankel mare so he's 25s.

“He won the Feilden very nicely and he could be anything, but we've not ruled anything out and he was put in the [G2] Dante [S.] and all the right races in both England and France.”

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Seven Days: Advance Appleby Fair

As statements of intent go, the results for Charlie Appleby's stable over recent weeks speak loudly as to his determination to retain the trainers' championship in 2022.

Twenty-three runners have emerged from Moulton Paddocks in the last fortnight, and 13 of them have returned home as winners, most importantly Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), the champion 2-year-old in Europe last year whose triumph return in the G3 Craven S. got the season off on a proper footing.

Of that baker's dozen, four were by the trainer's reliable old friend Dubawi (Ire), whose name must feature more than any other on doorcards around Moulton Paddocks. Appleby does seemingly have a new best friend, though, in Frankel (GB). The Juddmonte star played a hugely important role in helping the trainer to his first championship, just as he sealed his own first sires' championship with Godolphin's Derby-winning duo of Adayar (Ire) and Hurricane Lane (Ire) in the vanguard. 

Frankel's offspring are appearing increasingly frequently in the royal blue silks, with his daughter Wild Beauty having won the G3 Fred Darling S. at Newbury, where the colt Natural World–bred on the same Frankel-Dubawi cross as Adayar–impressed on debut. In Tuesday's Cazoo Blue Riband Trial at Epsom, Appleby will saddle another son of Frankel, Nahanni (GB), the easy winner of a 1m4f novice contest at Leicester earlier this month.

As we await the return of Adayar in the Coronation Cup and Hurricane Lane in the Hardwicke S. at Royal Ascot, in the wings Appleby has another 10 Frankel juveniles listed in training, including Adayar's full-brother named Military Order (Ire).

Those few people on course in the early morning last Wednesday witnessed the racecourse gallop of Coroebus (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), who swerved the Greenham S., with his trainer's reasoning being that he wanted to remain at Newmarket with the colt who has won on each of the town's two courses but has never run elsewhere. The guessing game now begins as to whether Coroebus might be able to overhaul his stable-mate Native Trail in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas after the latter became the third Craven S. winner for Appleby in the last four runnings of the race, following Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) and Master Of The Seas (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}).

Breezing Into Contention

One young racegoer who was perhaps as thrilled as Charlie Appleby to see Native Trail return in such fine style was Josh Williamson, the son of Norman and Janet Williamson who sold the unbeaten colt through their Oak Tree Farm draft at the 2021 Tattersalls Craven Breeze-up Sale a year to the day before his victory in the Craven itself.

The 15-year-old schoolboy certainly has the pedigree to be a decent rider, and indeed he was entrusted to be aboard Native Trail for much of his work leading up to the sale. It was touching to see Josh's input into the horse's early career acknowledged by Appleby as he strode into the winner's enclosure and immediately went over to shake his hand and congratulate him. 

We're betwixt breeze-up sales at the moment, with the Craven completed last week, and the horses for the Goffs UK Sale on Thursday set to breeze at Doncaster on Tuesday. That sector of the market could hardly have had a better advertisement than the results on course over the last week. 

Not only did Native Trail fly the flag, but so too did Highclere Racing's G3 Nell Gwyn S. winner Cachet (Ire) (Aclaim {Ire}), as well as the G3 Greenham S. winner Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}), who was bred, like the runner-up Lusail (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), by the seemingly unstoppable force that is Tally-Ho Stud. These followed the previous week's G3 Prix Imprudence victory of Malavath (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), another Tally-Ho-bred breezer who appears to be on course for the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket. 

Yet another Tally-Ho star graduate kept the ball rolling over the weekend when the G1 Prix Morny and G1 Commonwealth Cup winner Campanelle (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) returned for her 4-year-old debut at Keeneland with a classy win in the Listed Giant's Causeway S. Once again, trainer Wesley Ward looks to have been dealt a strong hand for his annual Royal Ascot challenge, with Campanelle being pointed towards the G1 Platinum Jubilee S. and the free-running speedball Golden Pal (Uncle Mo) heading to the G1 King's Stand S.–and that's before we consider Ward's juvenile contenders. 

Trainers In Form

It should be noted that there are currently two Applebys in the top four in the British trainers' ranks, the other being Michael Appleby, no relation to Charlie and narrowly ahead of him following another excellent winter campaign which saw him crowned champion all-weather trainer for the fourth year in a row. Based in Leicestershire, Michael Appleby's stable may not feature as many bluebloods as some of his rivals in the table, but over the last decade it has become an operation which should be taken very seriously indeed, with Michael surpassing the 100-winner mark for the first time in 2021. Expect more of the same this time around. 

Another trainer to have enjoyed a good week was Roger Varian, whose statuesque  Eydon (GB) was a rare winner for the veteran Olden Times (GB) in the Listed Feilden S. at Newmarket.  Having broken his maiden in some style on his third start, Eydon, whose name is taken from Eydon Hall Farm where he was born and raised, has the Classics on his agenda.

“I did worry when we named him that it could be a disaster,” said Prince Faisal's racing and bloodstock manager Ted Voute with a grin after the colt romped to a comfortable victory at Newmarket. 

Olden Times, now 24 and the winner of the G1 Prix Jean Prat for the owner/breeder, has had several homes during his stud career but has been at Throckmorton Court Stud for the last five years, where he is essentially used as a private stallion by the prince. 

Voute added, “We bred a mare to him the other day. We're sending him two mares this year and hoping for fillies.”

Varian was also represented at the Craven meeting by the Godolphin-bred maiden winner Ameynah (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), who holds a 1000 Guineas entry, while last season's G2 Champagne S. winner Bayside Boy (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) will head straight to either Newmarket or ParisLongchamp for a Classic attempt without taking in a trial.

Ameynah wasn't the smartest daughter of Exceed And Excel on the Rowley Mile last week, however, as the Chris Wall-trained Double Or Bubble (Ire) took the G3 Abernant S. for owner/breeder Salah Fustok of Deerfield Farm. Lightly-raced for a 5-year-old, Double Or Bubble has done little wrong during her 11 starts, only ever finishing out of the first two twice, and winning five times, including last year's Listed Flying Fillies' S at Pontefract. 

Wall, one of the most under-rated trainers in Newmarket who also trained this mare's full-sister, the G3 Chartwell Fillies' S. winner Mix And Mingle (Ire), outlined that after an “old school” winter being turned out back at Deerfield, Double Or Bubble has both strengthened and quickened. He is considering the G1 Platinum Jubilee S. for the mare's next start.

My Oh My

My Titania (Ire) already owns a footnote in history as the first stakes winner for her illustrious sire Sea The Stars (Ire) back in 2013, and as a broodmare she has had a fruitful week thanks to her first three foals, all of whom are trained by William Haggas for the Tsui family.

The first off the production line, 5-year-old My Oberon (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), won the All-Weather Mile Championships at Newcastle on Good Friday having finished a respectable sixth in a competitive running of the G1 Dubai Turf on March 26. The mare's 3-year-old, My Prospero (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}), was a winner at the second time of asking in a Newbury maiden on Saturday and could head next for the Listed Heron S. at Sandown in May.

Meanwhile, 4-year-old My Astra (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) picked up another slice of black type when third in the Listed Snowdrop Fillies' S. at Kempton. A lateish starter during July of last year, she won her first two races before finishing runner-up in the Listed Prix Solitude. There's surely more to come from this lightly-raced filly, who holds a G2 Dahlia S. entry on Guineas weekend.

Hit And Mist For Kildaragh 

Also featuring prominently among the results of the last seven days is the Kavanagh family's Kildaragh Stud, most notably as the breeder of the winner of the Listed Snowdrop Fillies' S., Roman Mist (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}). The 4-year-old provided her young trainer Tom Ward with his first stakes victory when winning in the colours of Hot To Trot Racing. 

Last Thursday, a brace of Kildaragh Stud graduates, both 3-year-olds by Churchill (Ire), returned to winner's enclosures of Newmarket and Ripon respectively. Tuscan (Ire), who struck last year at Thirsk for John and Jess Dance, took the British EBF Conditions S. for Charlie Hills, and this was followed less than an hour later by victory for the Richard-Fahey-trained Blenheim Boy (Ire) in the Cock o' the North H.

Meanwhile Roderick Kavanagh, son of Kildaragh owners Peter and Antoinette, had a successful week with his Glending Stables draft at the Craven Breeze-up Sale, selling all four horses for an average of 87,500gns.

Horton Won't Hear A Who

The well-liked James Horton left his position as Sir Michael Stoute's long-term assistant last year to start training in his own right for John and Jess Dance at Manor House Farm in Middleham, the birthplace of the Derby winner Dante. And on Monday, Horton ensured that his name will soon be widely known by announcing his presence on British racing's stage with his first three winners all on the same afternoon at Redcar. 

The first came in the opening race, a novice event won by Phantom Flight (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}), who had finished runner-up on debut on March 25 as the trainer's first runner. Horton was back for more in the fourth and fifth races on the card, winning with Il Bandito (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) and Asjad (GB) (Iffraaj {GB}). He also came close to securing a four-timer when Ghost Rider (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) finished second by half a length at Wolverhampton. 

On a day to remember for the trainer and owners, John Dance also announced on Twitter on Monday that his superstar mare Laurens (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) produced her second foal, a filly by Kingman (GB), overnight. 

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