|
|
Lockinge, Dante Festival on tap Farhh features among 13 six-day acceptors for Saturday's Lockinge Stakes at Newbury, one of the one-mile highlights of the season. Saeed bin Suroor's charge was something of a nearly horse last season, finishing second in four Group 1s, twice to Frankel. Silvestre de Sousa will replace Frankie Dettori on Farhh in the Group 1 event. "Silvestre de Sousa will ride him," bin Suroor commented. "He rides him in the mornings so knows him well. "We haven't had many runners this season as a lot of them were 100 percent for Dubai. About 85 percent of them will be ready to run soon and we'll have a lot more runners soon. It looks an open race and Cityscape looks the one to beat, but our horse is doing well and is a nice horse." Frankel's owner Prince Khalid Abdulla is set to be represented by Cityscape who won the Dubai Duty Free last season and ended his year finishing second behind Excelebration in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Champions Day. "For obvious reasons (same ownership) we had to avoid Frankel and we wouldn't have finished within many lengths of him, so we had to travel a lot which is tough, but he always ran his race," trainer Roger Charlton said. "This year he should have a clearer run at things. "It is challenging training a seven-year-old entire, as some can get idle and lazy at home and he's had his difficulties and issues along the way. It's been well documented that it hasn't been easy this winter, but he seems to have come to hand in the last few weeks. "He certainly went exceptionally well fresh last year and he's been a remarkably consistent horse," Charlton continued. "He's run in seven countries and run up to form in each of them, with the odd exception. He has been frustratingly beaten on occasions, but he's always maintained his level of form. There is chance now in the mile division. Aidan O'Brien has two entries, the progressive Declaration Of War and Reply, while impressive Ascot winner Fencing could represent champion trainer John Gosden. The three-day Dante Festival, which includes numerous Group and listed races, gets underway at York on Wednesday and should offer plenty of classic clues and pointers towards the sprinting and staying divisions. Sir Henry Cecil relies upon Tickled Pink to give him his first triumph in the Group 2 Duke of York Stakes on Wednesday. Tickled Pink was supplemented for this six-furlong contest at a cost of £7,500 after stepping up from maiden company to Group 3 class with an emphatic win in the Abernant Stakes at Newmarket last month. The four-year-old filly is among a high-quality field of 18. Heading the list are Group 1 winners Gordon Lord Byron and James Fanshawe's Society Rock, successful in the Prix de la Foret and Sprint Cup respectively. Irish raider Maarek was set to run in France on Sunday in the Prix de Saint-Georges but unusually for Longchamp at this time of year the ground was riding good, which David Nagle considered was too quick for his stable star. Seven-time champion trainer at York, Richard Fahey, is hoping to start the new campaign with a flourish courtesy of Romantic Settings, a filly who can continue improving and so make her presence felt in the Musidora Stakes. Also on Wednesday, a choice field of six fillies have been declared for the Group 3 Oaks trial staged over an extended 10 furlongs with Fahey's charge sent in search of a three-timer. The chestnut daughter of Mount Nelson won her maiden last September at Haydock Park and made a successful return to action at Musselburgh earlier this month, beating subsequent winner King of the Danes. "Before she won the other day, she wasn't working that well, so it's hard to get a line on her," Fahey said. "But the second came out and won (at Ascot). The owner is keen to run, so we will see what happens." Fellow Newmarket-based trainer Gosden has won the last two renewals of this recognized Oaks trial and he'll be hoping Woodland Aria -- a debut scorer at Wolverhampton last month -- can follow in the hoofprints of previous winners Joviality and The Fugue. "Woodland Aria has done nothing wrong," Gosden said. "It is a big step up in class, but she won her maiden nicely and this is a good race." Gosden is hoping to field a strong team for York's Dante Festival, headed by Ghurair who is on target for Thursday's Group 2 Dante Stakes, the key trial for next month's Epsom Derby. Sheikh Hamdan's colt had strong form as a juvenile, winning a competitive maiden at Newmarket's July Festival before taking the Tattersalls Millions Two-Year-Old Trophy on the Rowley Mile course in the autumn. The son of Elusive Quality made his seasonal bow in the Tattersalls Millions Three-Year-Old Trophy, finishing a creditable third to fellow Dante entrant Windhoek. "The plan is to run in the Dante," said Gosden, who won the race with Benny the Dip back in 1997 en route to Epsom glory. "I feel that it is the right race over the right distance for him. He is well and I was pleased with his performance at Newmarket. "This (the Dante Stakes) is always a very strong Derby trial. There is the Derrinstown (Stud Derby Trial) in Ireland and the Dante in England -- traditionally the best trials. The entry looks good but I am hopeful that Ghurair can run well." This £150,000 event has attracted a field of 19 at the six-day entry, including Derby second favorite Telescope and Greatwood, who runs in the same Highclere colours. Earlier the same afternoon, Starscope is set to represent the Gosden in the other Group 2 of the day, the £100,000 Middleton Stakes. Owned by Cheveley Park Stud, Starscope was second in both the One Thousand Guineas and the Coronation Stakes last season but hasn't been seen since finishing fourth in a listed race at Sandown last July. Gosden won last year's renewal of this respected race limited to fillies and mares with Izzi Top. "Starscope had a very busy spring and early summer last year and I felt she needed a break after Sandown," Gosden said. "She has done well and gone the right way." Friday's principal race is the Yorkshire Cup, a £140,000 contest for leading stayers over 1 3/4 miles, a valuable and highly-rated Group 2 "Cup" race. Newmarket-based trainer Ed Dunlop clinched last year's renewal with Red Cadeaux, a Group 1 winner and runner-up in both the Melbourne Cup and Dubai World Cup. This year the yard holds entries with both Joshua Tree (winner of the Canadian International Stakes) and Times Up (successful in last season's Doncaster Cup, when trained by his father, John, who has now retired). Dubai Gold Cup winner Cavalryman and the Francois Doumen-trained Top Trip are eyecatching entries. A couple of listed races for fillies are prominent on the final day -- two-year-olds take part in Marygate, while three-year-olds take part in the race registered as the Michael Seely Memorial Stakes. Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com
 Send this article to a friend
|
|
