Havana Grey’s Vandeek Has The Answer In The Middle Park

Ruthlessly efficient and utterly dominant in Saturday's G1 Juddmonte Middle Park S. at Newmarket, KHK Racing's sprinter supreme Vandeek (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}–Mosa Mine {GB}, by Exceed And Excel {Aus}) sealed his elevated status by becoming the sixth G1 Prix Morny winner to double up here since 2012. Sent off the heavily-supported 5-4 favourite to add to his tally which as well as the Deauville highlight also includes the G2 Richmond S., the Simon and Ed Crisford trainee was over-enthusiastic in the early stages as James Doyle struggled to contain him within a five-strong group racing up the centre.

Into a split approaching two out, the writing was soon on the wall for his rivals as the 625,000gns joint-topper of the Tatts Craven Breeze-Up took command a furlong later. Putting to bed any fears that he lacked the versatility to excel first time on this kind of fast ground, the beau ideal was quickly into the clear to score by 2 1/4 lengths from the sponsors' TDN Rising Star Task Force (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who denied Ballydoyle's G2 Coventry S.-winning fellow TDN Rising Star River Tiber (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) the consolation prize by a head.

“He's beautiful with a wonderful temperament and all of the talent to match,” Simon Crisford said. “That race took a lot of winning today and the Prix Morny was an exceptional race. When he hits the front he does tend to idle and look around a bit, but I couldn't see anything running him down so I was pretty hopeful in the last 100 yards.”

“We came here pretty confident, we knew we had something special,” Crisford Sr added. “He's been working exceptionally well and he's been such a kind horse to go with it, everything was great. He was flat out asleep today until noon today. We couldn't get him up to come to the races. His mind is so good, which is important as it makes our job easy. This is something really special. He is one of the best two-year-olds in the world and has never let us down.”

Crisford was also not discounting a return to the track for the G1 Dewhurst S. in a fortnight and added, “I think we're going to let the horse tell us as much as he can and we'll take it from there. He's a tall, leggy horse and he stands over a lot of ground, he could easily go further. Never say never, I think the person that will decide whether he comes back for the Dewhurst is the horse himself. If he tells us he wants to come here then we will.”

James Doyle added, “I think he has shown all the qualities you need in a potential champion. He has shown he can do it on soft ground and fast ground on a variety of tracks. It didn't go entirely to plan, as we kind of missed the break so I just came across and used Ryan as a bit of a target as I wasn't convinced the ones drawn around us were the ones to be tracking so it actually panned out okay. By zooming across, I set him alight a bit so he took a bit of managing early. He is just a big ball of speed and when the gap came, he went through it pretty good.”

Ralph Beckett said of the runner-up, “He is a horse that we have crept here with, as you can see he is not the finished article by any means. This is a horse that has done it all on his own as we have not been keen to turn the screw on him. I think it is unlikely he will show up in the Dewhurst, but I'm really pleased with what he has done today. He has split two very good horses, so I'm delighted. He handled it very well today, better than I thought he would. He learnt again today. I'd say on the back of today I'd be keen to turn up here on the first weekend in May and you might not see him again until then.”

Pedigree Notes

Vandeek's dam Mosa Mine is a daughter of Baldemosa (Fr) (Lead On Time), who is kin to the G1 Prix Robert Papin heroine Balbonella (Fr) (Gay Mecene) who in turn produced the G1 July Cup-winning champion sprinter and leading sire Anabaa as well as the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches heroine Always Loyal (Zilzal) and the successful sire Key Of Luck. She is also the second dam of Danzig's G2 Gimcrack S.-winning sire Country Reel and the ancestress of the latter's daughter Baine (Fr) who was second in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches.

Saturday, Newmaket, Britain
JUDDMONTE MIDDLE PARK S.-G1, £291,580, Newmarket, 9-30, 2yo, c, 6fT, 1:10.76, g/f.
1–VANDEEK (GB), 128, c, 2, by Havana Grey (GB)
   1st Dam: Mosa Mine (GB), by Exceed And Excel (Aus)
   2nd Dam: Baldemosa (Fr), by Lead On Time
   3rd Dam: Bamieres (Fr), by Riverman
(52,000gns Wlg '21 TADEWE; 42,000gns Ylg '22 TADEY; 625,000gns 2yo '23 TATBRE). O-KHK Racing; B-Maywood Stud (GB); T-Simon & Ed Crisford; J-James Doyle. £165,355. Lifetime Record: G1SW-Fr, 4-4-0-0, $550,438. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Task Force (GB), 128, c, 2, Frankel (GB)–Special Duty (GB), by Hennessy. 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE; 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK TYPE. O-Juddmonte; B-Juddmonte Farms Ltd (GB); T-Ralph Beckett. £62,690.
3–River Tiber (Ire), 128, c, 2, Wootton Bassett (GB)–Transcendence (Ire), by Arcano (Ire). (480,000gns Ylg '22 TATOCT). O-Tabor, Smith, Magnier, Westerberg & Brant; B-Pier House Stud (IRE); T-Aidan O'Brien. £31,374.
Margins: 2 1/4, HD, 1 1/4. Odds: 1.25, 7.50, 2.75.
Also Ran: Givemethebeatboys (Ire), Starlust (GB), Sketch (Ire), Lake Forest (GB), Elite Status (GB), Jasour (GB).

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Frankel’s Task Force Goes Two for Two in Ripon Listed

Earning TDN Rising Star status on debut at Salisbury last month, Juddmonte's Task Force (GB) (Frankel {GB}–Special Duty {GB}, by Hennessy) passed his second career test in Monday's Listed British Stallion Studs EBF Ripon Champion Two Yrs Old Trophy to suggest he can take higher rank among the season's juveniles. Settled behind the leaders by Rossa Ryan early, the Ralph Beckett-trained 11-8 favourite made his move wide to tackle his rail-running stablemate Matters Most (GB) (Advertise {GB}) inside the final furlong before asserting for a 1 1/4-length success.

 

“The idea of going to Ripon was to teach him a bit, as he didn't learn much the first day–he hit the gates well and sat handy and was left in front a furlong and a half down, so he probably didn't learn a lot about racing,” Juddmonte's racing manager Barry Mahon said. “He'll have learned plenty there today. You saw how green he was in the early part there and when Rossa asked him to go he was green, but when the penny dropped away he went. It was a nice performance and he could a nice horse.”

Mahon floated the idea of Task Force moving up in trip. “I haven't spoken to Ralph yet and we need to let the dust settle, but I've no doubt seven is going to be right up his street,” he added. “He's bred to be a miler in time, so seven furlongs won't be a problem but whether Ralph decides to go that way now or later on we'll wait and see. Part of the reason we went back over six furlongs today was because when you look up his mother's record she never raced beyond six at two and ended up being a dual Guineas winner at three, so there's no shortage of speed in the pedigree and he showed that today against some hardened two-year-olds.”

As Mahon stated, Task Force's dam Special Duty captured the six-furlong G1 Cheveley Park S. and 5 1/2-furlong G2 Prix Robert Papin at two and was second in the G1 Prix Morny before her extraordinary Classic campaign which saw her twice promoted from second to first after inquiries in the G1 1000 Guineas and G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches. Her finest performer to date is the listed scorer Elegant Verse (GB) by Frankel's sire Galileo (Ire), while she also produced the Listed Prix Yacowlef runner-up South Bank (Tapit).

A daughter of Quest To Peak (Distant View), who is also the second dam of the operation's GI Breeders' Cup Mile and G2 Vintage S.-winning sire Expert Eye (GB) (Acclamation {GB}), Special Duty hails from the the family of Quest To Peak's seven-times grade I-winning full-sister Sightseek (Distant View), the GI Yellow Ribbon S. winner Tates Creek (Rahy) and the champion sire Chief's Crown. She also has a yearling filly by Sea The Stars (Ire) and a foal full-brother to Task Force.

BRITISH STALLION STUDS EBF RIPON CHAMPION TWO YRS OLD TROPHY S.-Listed, £40,000, Ripon, 8-28, 2yo, 6fT, 1:12.53, gd.
1–TASK FORCE (GB), 131, c, 2, by Frankel (GB)
     1st Dam: Special Duty (GB) (Champion 2-year-old Filly-Eur, MG1SW-Eng, G1SW-Fr, $1,070,938), by Hennessy
     2nd Dam: Quest To Peak, by Distant View
     3rd Dam: Viviana, by Nureyev
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. TDN Rising Star. O-Juddmonte; B-Juddmonte Farms Ltd (GB); T-Ralph Beckett; J-Rossa Ryan. £22,408. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $35,131.
2–Matters Most (GB), 131, c, 2, Advertise (GB)–Squash (GB), by Pastoral Pursuits (GB).
1ST BLACK TYPE. (135,000gns Wlg '21 TADEWE; 500,000gns Ylg '22 TATOCT). O-Mr Robert Ng; B-Kirtlington Stud & Mrs Mary Taylor (GB); T-Ralph Beckett. £8,532.
3–Seven Questions (Ire), 131, g, 2, Kodiac (GB)–Get Up And Dance (GB), by Makfi (GB).
1ST BLACK TYPE. (£58,000 Ylg '22 GOFFUK). O-Victorious Racing & Fawzi Nass; B-Tally Ho Stud (IRE); T-George Scott. £4,272.
Margins: 1 1/4, NK, 1HF. Odds: 1.38, 8.00, 5.00.
Also Ran: Bombay Bazaar (GB), Shagraan (Ire), Asadna (Ire).

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TDN Rising Star Task Force Tackles Listed Prize

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Monday's Insights features the next step for a TDN Rising Star moving up the ranks as he meets another at the Listed level.

15.35 Ripon, Listed, £40,000, 2yo, 6fT
TASK FORCE (GB) (Frankel {GB}) impressed on debut at Salisbury last month to earn TDN Rising Star status for Juddmonte and the Ralph Beckett stable and takes the next step on his journey in this Listed British Stallion Studs EBF Ripon Champion Two Years Old Trophy S. The son of the operation's star performer Special Duty (GB) (Hennessy) meets another TDN Rising Star in Sheikh Abdullah Almalek Alsabah's Asadna (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), whose sensational debut performance hasn't been backed up in two subsequent efforts despite running third in the Listed Rose Bowl S.

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Frankel’s Task Force A New TDN Rising Star At Salisbury

There was a buzz about Juddmonte's Task Force (GB) (Frankel {GB}), the 10th foal produced by unique dual Classic heroine Special Duty (GB) (Hennessy {GB}), as he went postward as the even-money favourite for Saturday evening's Starman At Tally Ho Stud British EBF Maiden S. at Salisbury. He proved why as he returned with a TDN Rising Star rosette after delivering a deeply promising 3 1/4-length success in the six-furlong contest.

Swiftly into stride from an outer stall, the G2 Champagne S. entry cut across to shadow the pace in a close-up second throughout the early stages. Inching ahead passing the two-furlong pole, the homebred quickened beyond recall soon after and kept on powerfully under mild coaxing to outclass Kingswood Flyer (Ire) (Sioux Nation).

“Mr [Ralph] Beckett had me in Friday morning just to sit on him and to get a feel,” explained winning rider Rhys Clutterbuck. “He did a quick bit of work and he felt special. Mr Beckett told me he was very professional out of the gate, so I shouldn't have any problems getting a nice position. I got him into a nice position so that I was able to see how the race developed and he put the race to bed quite nicely. He probably wants seven furlongs in time and, ideally, it would have been more in our favour if there had been a little bit more rain. I think he'd like it softer, but he handled that [good] ground very well today.”

 

Pedigree Notes
Special Duty, who captured the G1 Cheveley Park S. and G2 Prix Robert Papin and was second in the G1 Prix Morny before being twice promoted from second to first by the stewards in the G1 1000 Guineas and G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, has yet to hit the heights as a broodmare with her best progeny being the listed scorer Elegant Verse (GB) by Frankel's sire Galileo (Ire). Also responsible for the Listed Prix Yacowlef runner-up South Bank (Tapit), she is a daughter of Quest To Peak (Distant View) who is also the second dam of the operation's GI Breeders' Cup Mile and G2 Vintage S.-winning sire Expert Eye (GB) (Acclamation {GB}).

The third dam is the Listed Prix Melisande winner and G3 Prix de Psyche runner-up Viviana (Nureyev), who produced Quest To Peak's seven-times grade I-winning full-sister Sightseek (Distant View) and the GI Yellow Ribbon S. winner Tates Creek (Rahy) and the dam of the four-times grade III winner and GI Clark S.-placed Fulsome (Into Mischief). Also from the family of the champion sire Chief's Crown, Special Duty's yearling filly is by Sea The Stars (Ire), while her colt foal is a full-brother to Task Force.

2nd-Salisbury, £10,000, Mdn, 7-29, 2yo, 6fT, 1:16.88, gd.
TASK FORCE (GB) (c, 2, Frankel (GB)
     1st Dam: Special Duty (GB) (MG1SW-Eng & G1SW-Fr, $1,070,938), by Hennessy
     2nd Dam: Quest To Peak, by Distant View
     3rd Dam: Viviana, by Nureyev
Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $6,939. O-Juddmonte; B-Juddmonte Farms Ltd (GB); T-Ralph Beckett. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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