Snow Lantern | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘A Score To Be Settled’: Snow Lantern Will Try To Go One Better Than Her Dam In Friday’s Falmouth Stakes

Richard Hannon insists Snow Lantern is capable of “settling a score” by going one better than her mother Sky Lantern eight years ago in the Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes at the Moët & Chandon July Festival on Friday (July 9th) at Newmarket.

The Frankel filly will bid to secure victory in the race that eluded her illustrious mother, who finished second in the 2013 renewal, when attempting to open her own account at the top level in the mile Group One feature.

Arriving on the back of victories in the QIPCO 1000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot, Sky Lantern had to settle for second best in her quest for a Group One hat-trick behind Elusive Kate, who held on to first place following a stewards' inquiry.

After running out a stylish winner of a maiden at Newbury on her return Snow Lantern ran below expectations when finishing third in a Listed race at York before finding only Alcohol Free too strong on her Group One debut in the Coronation Stakes at the Royal meeting.

Hannon said: “We were disappointed on the day with Sky Lantern. I thought we should have been given the race but we weren't, but we then beat Elusive Kate later in the season in the Sun Chariot Stakes.

“She hasn't won a 1000 Guineas like her mum but she is going there hopefully to win where her mother didn't but should have and it would be nice if she did just that.

“She is as fresh as a daisy. It would be nice if she could win the race as her mother deserved it. She is in good nick and is good enough to win a race like this.

“There is a score to be settled there and it would give us some sort of closure.”

Assessing Snow Lantern's season so far, Hannon believes her effort at the Royal meeting last time out confirmed that she firmly belongs at the top table.

He said: “Her performance in the maiden at Newbury was top class. She has been brilliant apart from that one bad race at York, where she was disappointing. She didn't breathe for three furlongs – she just held her breath.

“She was back to her best at Ascot. She came with a lovely run, she just got tight for room for a little bit but she ran a lovely race and it showed you could put a line through the York effort.

“She hasn't been thrown in the deep end every time this year or last year but we are there now and she is able to compete at that level, she just needs to get a bit of luck.”

Among the likely opposition Snow Lantern will face is her conqueror from the Royal meeting, Alcohol Free, and Hannon is confident that with a bit of luck his filly can turn the tables.

He said: “The winner won well at Ascot but we look forward to taking her on again in the Falmouth. I always hate saying we could reverse the form as the winner that day at Ascot ran well.

“We didn't really have the rub of the green that day. Hopefully the ground will be better this time which will help our filly.”

Although Snow Lantern has a long way to go to match the exploits of Sky Lantern, Hannon admits there are plenty of similarities between mother and daughter.

He explained: “She has got a smaller profile than her mother at the moment but she is just coming good. She is a Frankel out of a Guineas winner. She really is the image of her mother. I've never known one so similar.

“She is quite a butch filly and thick-set. The revs are a bit higher than her mother because she is a Frankel but she could easily be as good as her mum.”

Meanwhile Hannon is leaning towards dropping recent course winner Lusail back to six furlongs on Thursday in the Group Two Tattersalls July Stakes.

Having made a winning debut at York, the son of Mehmas then lost his unbeaten record at Pontefract before making his first start over seven furlongs a winning one at the July Course last time out.

He said: “I think he might be a six furlong horse but we don't know whether to go for the July Stakes or the Superlative Stakes.

“We will work him at home first and go from there. He is still not there in his coat but he has been like that all his life.

“He won well at York then I don't know what went wrong at Pontefract but it did. He is going to go to Newmarket for one of the two but at the minute I'm thinking of the July Stakes.”

The post ‘A Score To Be Settled’: Snow Lantern Will Try To Go One Better Than Her Dam In Friday’s Falmouth Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Oisin Murphy Bounces Back To Win Royal Ascot’s Coronation Stakes On Alcohol Free

On Friday at Royal Ascot, Oisin Murphy bounced back from losing a G1 in the stewards' room by winning the G1 Coronation Stakes 40 minutes later aboard Alcohol Free (11/2).

The Andrew Balding-trained filly was fifth in the QIPCO 1000 Guineas on her latest start, but turned the tables on the winner that day, Mother Earth (9/2), who finished third. Second place went to Snow Lantern (14/1), a length and a half behind the winner.

Alcohol Free – racing in the famous Jeff Smith silks – gave Balding a 109.5/1 Friday Royal Ascot double, and a third winner of the week. Murphy was also scoring for the third time this week, joining Frankie Dettori at the head of the leading jockey standings.

Murphy said: “I didn't get a chance to stress ahead of Alcohol Free. I had a plan and I don't know if Andrew agreed me, but he filled me with confidence when I told him what I was going to do.

“She jumped normal and what worried me was the clerk of the course decided to put the stalls on the far rail. That was fine, but then everyone wants to get to that rail, so it is congested and I was worried it was going to get congested.

“Alcohol Free relaxed, I stayed on the bit for as long as I could and given her pedigree, she was always going to handle the ground.”

On losing the G1 Commonwealth Cup in the stewards' room, Murphy said: “I am disappointed for the connections of Dragon Symbol. There was a massive Japanese interest, he finished the race in front, but it wasn't meant to be.

“I didn't give it much thought, I went in the stewards' room, I told them I was on the best horse, Frankie said I was on the best horse, but it didn't go my way.

“Sorry to the Japanese fans and to Archie Watson's team, and well done to Wesley Ward.”

Speaking about coming out for the Coronation Stakes straight after the outcome of the stewards' enquiry, he added: “I said to my valet when he put his hand around me: 'there's no place for tears in here. There are far worse things going on in the world, we're in the entertainment industry, and I'm steering these marvelous animals and keep looking forward to the next one'.”

Jeff Smith said: “It was very emotional because we felt we were very unlucky in the Guineas and there's only one Guineas.

“The whole team at Kingsclere have just done a wonderful job. They've trained her for this race, after the Guineas, as a specific target and what a delivery. It's just absolutely fabulous.”

Balding said: “Alcohol Free is very classy. We had heavy hearts after Newmarket because it isn't often you go into a Classic expecting to win it. For whatever reason it didn't pan out that day and she was below-par, but she was back to her best today, and she looked pretty good.

“We were a bit concerned when all the rain came, because her stamina wasn't guaranteed, but full credit to Oisin – it's the measure of the man to have the disappointment he had five minutes before they go in the stalls, and to give her such a good ride takes some doing.

“We have worked her at home plenty of times on soft ground, it doesn't inconvenience her and she travels very strongly; it was just whether she would see out the final furlong, and I was very grateful that she really powered home.

“Today was the first time ever she has got some cover, and it's been through ill-luck rather than design that she hasn't before. The slightly awkward draw turned into a really good draw when they started to race down under the trees, and she got some cover and switched off beautifully.

“She did win a G1 last year, so there's never been any doubt about her ability, but she needed a bit of luck and everything to drop right.

“She's in the July Cup and the Sussex Stakes – whether she does both or one I don't know, but I think we'll stick to Britain this year.”

Reflecting on the week so far, Balding added: “This is the reason we do it. We have been looking forward to this meeting and had such high expectations. We had plenty of horses to run here and we thought we should have one winner with the number of horses we've got; two winners is fantastic, but three is cloud nine. We'll have a bit of fun tonight.

“It's great to do it for Jeff Smith – ask any of his trainers: he's loyal, patient and he loves racing. He loves his horses and there is never any pressure; it's just fabulous when any of us can get results for him.”

Trainer Richard Hannon said of Snow Lantern: “Her day will come and she's run a super race. We had a point to prove after York. She is an aeroplane. In terms of what I came here wanting, she's done – she was so much less keen.”

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Levey Looks For First Royal Victory

Sean Levey has already set several notable benchmarks in British racing–being the first black jockey to ride in the Derby in 2016 when fifth on Humphrey Bogart (Ire) (Tagula {Ire}) and, two years later, the first black jockey to win a British Classic when steering Billesdon Brook (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}) to victory in the G1 1000 Guineas-and next week Levey hopes to earn a belated first Royal Ascot victory.

The 33-year-old Swaziland-born rider, who will partner the likes of Snow Lantern (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Happy Romance (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}) for Richard Hannon at the Royal meeting, said, “My form at Ascot alone is very good–but when it comes to Royal Ascot, not so much. I wouldn't say I've been unfortunate. I've been placed many a time, mostly in handicaps and what have you. I'm disappointed it hasn't happened yet, so I would just like the box ticked now. It's a bit of a monkey on my back, that one.”

Levey certainly has the right foundation to take his career to the next level. His family left Africa when Levey was a teenager and, after touching down briefly in Croydon in South London, relocated to Ireland to allow his father, Mick Levey, to work for Aidan O'Brien. The younger Levey took up working at Ballydoyle on the weekends, and after a season of pony racing signed on as an apprentice to O'Brien.

“I won a few listed races and group races for Aidan and had the opportunity to ride, I think, in every Classic in Ireland. I rode in the Arc for him and a few other Group 1s, including the German Guineas, and I won the Irish Cambridgeshire on a horse called Poet. It was a privileged apprenticeship. There's no doubt he gave me a lot of opportunities, and I'll be forever grateful.”

After six years with O'Brien, Levey relocated to Britain in 2011 to take the next step in his career.

“I'd had massive opportunities as an apprentice and was wanting momentum over here. I was chasing my dream,” he said.

Levey admitted that as a younger rider, “thinking about the colour of my skin wasn't at the forefront of my mind,” and he said he thinks it is a lack of information rather than systemic racism in racing that has deterred more people of colour from entering the sport.

“What I am seeing, and should be seeing, is a lot more black and Asian people coming into racing,” he said. “In Ireland there was only me; in England there is me and Royston [Ffrench] and Silvestre de Sousa, obviously. Now the next crop of apprentices are coming in, and I do see a lot more. If what we have done is give others the confidence, I think that is ultimately what everyone is looking for. [We want] to reach out to those urban areas where people don't get the opportunities and show that the sport is open to anybody who would like to come into it. Rather than dwelling on 'racing needs to change because it's racist', I personally don't feel that that's the case, but I do feel like more information needs to be put out there for people to know that they are more than welcome through those doors.”

In the meantime, Levey is looking forward to partnering, among others, Snow Lantern in the G1 Coronation S. and Happy Romance in the G1 Commonwealth Cup next week.

Of Snow Lantern, a 'TDN Rising Star' who could only manage third in the Listed Michael Seely Memorial S. at York on May 14, Levey said, “She's in good order and all set to go. It was a slightly disappointing run at York–things didn't really go our way. She was keener than you'd like on that occasion and as a result, she didn't quite run as well as we thought she would. She seems to be doing the right things at home and hasn't put a foot wrong since. I'd like to think that if she runs her race nice and settles then she'll have a big chance.”

Happy Romance backed up a busy and fruitful 2-year-old campaign with a win in the Listed Chelmer Fillies' S. at Chelmsford on Apr. 29, and looks to rebound from a fifth-place finish in the Listed Carnarvon S. on May 15.

“Happy Romance is one that does all the talking on the track,” Levey said. “She's very straightforward, an absolute pleasure to ride and has plenty of ability to boot. I think Ascot is her track–she ran really well in the Queen Mary last year. She's shown she wants better ground, and a stiff track will suit her style of running. She's more an off-the-bridle kind of sprinter, rather than an 'all guns blazing' kind of sprinter. Against her own age group, I would give her a good chance.”

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Hannon Looking At “Bigger Picture” With Snow Lantern

Trainer Richard Hannon said he and the team behind Rockcliffe Stud's homebred 'TDN Rising Star' Snow Lantern (GB) (Frankel {GB}) opted to bypass Sunday's G1 1000 Guineas with a view towards the “bigger picture,” which could include engagements in races like the G1 Prix de Diane, G1 Coronation S., G1 Irish 1000 Guineas and G1 Falmouth S. as well as a 4-year-old campaign. Snow Lantern became the subject of Guineas talk immediately after breaking her maiden in eye-catching fashion at Newbury on Apr. 18.

“It was a team decision,” said Hannon of the call to skip Newmarket this weekend. “She's by a Guineas [winner] out of a Guineas winner [Sky Lantern], so the 1000 Guineas looked her race, but you've got to look at the bigger picture. She has been lightly raced up to now. She's a very heavy filly, and they are looking to keep her as a 4-year-old. They don't want to throw her into the deep end right now. I hold her in the highest regard–I think she could be even better than her mum.”

Hannon, who also trained Sky Lantern, said Snow Lantern can be “a bit of a madam.”

“She's a bit difficult; she can be a bit keen and can be a bit of a madam. But you don't mind that when they have the talent and ability she has. I've never known a horse look so much like her mum, so much so I got Hughesie [former jockey Richard Hughes, who rode Sky Lantern] to sit on her when he was down one morning. He didn't feel this filly had the same sort of speed, but I think she had an off-day.

“I think she's a miler personally. She won very well at Newbury, and I think she's very good. Although it's a shame to miss the Guineas, it will give us the opportunity to look at big targets in the summer.”

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