HE may not look a world-beater elsewhere, or under other riders, but the combination of Newmarket and Silvestre de Sousa makes Communique a tough nut to crack, and he extended his unbeaten run at the track to four with a game win in the Princess of Wales Stakes, conceding a Group 2 penalty and beating Mirage Dancer, trained by Sir Michael Stoute and ridden by Ryan Moore, and Desert Encounter trained by David Simcock and ridden by Harry Bentley by one-and-three-quarter-lengths and half a length.

The winning rider, having allowed Dashing Willoughby to set the pace, made his move early in the straight, and his mount had the others off the bridle before staying on strongly up the hill for a comfortable success. Masar was again below form, racing much too freely behind the steady early pace without cover, and fading to finish last.

Trainer Charlie Appleby is inclined to give the Derby winner one more try back in trip, although another failure will surely mean retirement for last year’s Epsom hero.

Communique won a mile-and-a-half handicap at this meeting last year, added the Listed Godolphin Stakes in the autumn, and beat subsequent Coronation Cup and Hardwicke Stakes winner Defoe in the Jockey Club Stakes here at the Guineas meeting. De Sousa has done the steering for three of those wins, and the pair seem perfectly matched. The colt is in the Ebor, but Johnston is convinced that he is capable of winning a Group 1 and has earmarked the Grosser Preis von Berlin at Hoppegarten next month and the Grosser Preis von Baden as suitable targets. Both contests are over one-and-a-half-miles and were won last year by Godolphin’s Best Solution.

Royal Lytham gives Gleneagles first group win

VICTORY in a maiden race here last month earned Visinari rave reviews, and as a result he was backed into odds-on favouritism for the July Stakes, but his lack of experience told as he was beaten in a three-way photo by Aidan O’Brien’s Coventry Stakes seventh Royal Lytham under Wayne Lordan, with the Saeed bin Suroor-trained Platinum Star, ridden by Harry Bentley grabbing second and improving on a similar placing in the Windsor Castle Stakes behind another son of Gleneagles in the shape of Southern Hills.

The favourite was slightly awkwardly away from the lowest stall, and then pressed on under Frankie Dettori along with Ryan Moore’s mount King Neptune, and that pair probably did too much without a breather in front, the latter weakening into fifth and Visinari visibly tiring as he drifted markedly left into the winner in the last 100 yards. The trio who dominated may well clash again in the Vintage Stakes at Goodwood, with the seven-furlongs of that contest probably ideal for all three, although Royal Lytham’s connections may delay a step up in trip until the autumn. Charlie Johnston, representing his father admitted that he favoured this race with the trainer more inclined to go for Saturday’s Superlative Stakes over an extra furlong, and admitted that he would have to face “the wrath of dad” as a consequence.

Kevin Buckley, representing the Coolmore team, was naturally delighted, not just with the winner, but also his sire, whose success at stud is clearly important given his pedigree, and he said:

“The most important thing for us at Coolmore is that this is Gleneagles’ first crop of two-year-olds. It is really pleasing that a horse like Gleneagles seems to be passing on his genes and it is a great start to a fabulous week. At the moment you would say six-furlongs is his trip, but there is no reason to suggest he wouldn’t be able to step up another furlong this year.”

Change of plan For Mission?

SPANISH Mission was a most impressive winner of the Group 3 Bahrain Trophy for trainer David Simcock and jockey Jamie Spencer, and while the race was made complicated to analyse by the tactics employed on runaway leader Severance, the fact that the race was run in record time means that there can be no element of fluke about it, for all favourite Eagles By Day was disappointing having raced prominently in the chasing pack.

Mark Johnston’s Nayef Road (Silvestre de Sousa) reversed Queen’s Vase placings with Aidan O’Brien’s Barbados ridden by Ryan Moore, with Archie Watson’s Nate The Great ridden by Hollie Doyle bouncing back from a poor run in that Ascot contest to split the pair in third.

Spanish Mission is owned in partnership by Team Valor and Earle Mack, and with his owners based in the US, the long-term plan for this son of Noble Mission has been the newly-inaugurated Jockey Club Derby at Belmont Park in September, although it was hardly surprising to hear Simcock talk about having a look at the St Leger after such an impressive win in this trial.

Spanish Mission, whose only previous win was in a novice contest at Chelmsford last season, hails from the family of the Irish 2000 Guineas winner Bachelor Duke, and while there is speed in the family, it’s no surprise to see him inherit stamina from his sire, the Champion Stakes and Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud winner Noble Mission.

Even so, he clearly stays further than a cursory glance at his pedigree would suggest, and while he isn’t entered in the St Leger, supplementing him would be tempting, particularly for Earle Mack, who is something of an anglophile, and the promise of an English Classic winner would be a big draw. His partners are rather more prosaic, so the prospect of a weaker $1 million contest in New York is bound to be more attractive from a strictly commercial point of view. Discussions will be had, no doubt.