Newmarket Saturday
Tattersalls Cheveley Park Stakes (Group 1)
TRUE Love (Aidan O’Brien/Wayne Lordan) showed a brilliant turn of foot to add the Group 1 Tattersalls Sceptre Sessions Cheveley Park Stakes to previous wins in the Queen Mary and Railway Stakes – and silenced those who doubted her after a shock defeat in the Phoenix Stakes last month.
Well backed into 2/1 favouritism, she was a standout in the paddock and towered over her rivals in the race itself, unleashing a sharp burst of speed to ease past Havana Anna (Joseph O’Brien/Ger Ryan) up the final hill to prevail by a comfortable three-parts of a length, with Lowther first and second, Royal Fixation (Ed Walker/William Buick) and America Queen (Richard Hughes/Neil Callan) only third and fourth this time, ahead of the pace-setting Fitzella.
True Love is a powerfully-built filly, who has the stature of a sprinter and, although attracting support for the 1000 Guineas after this impressive win, her trainer (for whom she was providing a sixth Cheveley Park success) was urging caution regarding her chances of staying the classic trip.
“She’s a big powerhouse,” said O’Brien. “Ryan was very helpful to Wayne before the race and told him to wait and hold on to her between the two and the one, and that’s exactly what he did.
“Wayne gave her a beautiful ride. Her last race was a bit of a mess and Ryan was convinced it wasn’t her running. She’s quick and is by No Nay Never, who is a big influence for speed.
“She could go to America (for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filly Turf), and I’d say we’d be putting her in the picture. She has a great constitution and takes her races very well.
“She has a great mind and is very chilled. She’s big but she’s quick and travelled very strong through the race today.”
Tattersalls Middle Park Stakes (Group 1)
WISE Approach (Charlie Appleby/William Buick) had to overcome a troubled passage before stamping his class on the Group 1 Tattersalls Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday. The 11/8 favourite appeared to clip heels with The Publican’s Son after that rival dived across his path when the stalls opened, and that incident lost him momentum and a good early pitch, forcing Buick to switch to the far side of runners to deliver his challenge.
Despite his circuitous path, Wise Approach had enough in hand to win by three-parts of a length and a short head from Brussels (Aidan O’Brien/Wayne Lordan) and Coppull (Clive Cox/Rossa Ryan), who came close together in the dying strides, prompting the added drama of a stewards’ enquiry.
Five Ways set a strong pace with First Approach, and the winner was still last at the Bushes when Buick switched around the field to deliver his challenge, a manoeuvre which cost him ground initially, but was probably the winning of the race in the final analysis.
The stewards ruled interference to Wise Approach shortly after the start was accidental and came to a similar conclusion regarding a bump between second and third in the final 100 yards.
A clearly relieved Appleby said: “The plan was for him to miss the break, but we didn’t reckon on the stumble. We wanted to drop him in, as I felt William gave him a great ride in the Prix Morny last time. He showed his electric turn of foot, but he just pulled up in front.
“I did say to William to put him in front on the line today, but it’s never easy to watch when he went past like that. I’m delighted for the horse, for William, and to have a Group 1 juvenile winner.
“We’re still learning about him. He’s getting stronger and here we are today. He’s a bit more chiselled than the likes of Shadow Of Light, who won this for us last year, and I would say that that will be it for this year.”
Aidan O’Brien, the trainer of runner-up Brussels, also called stumps for the year with his colt, adding: “We were very happy. He’s a big, strong, fast horse and we were delighted with that run.
“He did look good on his first start, but he has been a bit babyish. I think it will come, but he’s very big. We’ll probably have a look at a classic with him and see how it goes.”
Bow Echo in Guineas< picture/section> picture
BOW Echo (George Boughey/Billy Loughnane) defied a late drift in the betting (returned 85/40 favourite) to extend his unbeaten run to three in the Group 2 Tattersalls Online Royal Lodge Stakes, which opened Saturday’s Newmarket card.
Humidity (Andrew Balding/James Doyle) set the pace and maintained the gallop throughout, but Bow Echo travelled smoothly in midfield before being produced by Loughnane, and he showed a taking turn of foot to gain his richest prize to date.
He had a length to spare over Humidity at the line, with Action (Aidan O’Brien/Wayne Lordan) faring the better of the Coolmore pair in third, another half-length away.
Boughey said: “Bow Echo has a great attitude and, for an inexperienced horse to go into a proper Group 2 and win like that was all we could have hoped for. He travelled well and has got so much pace.
“He’s such a fast horse that we could have started him over six furlongs.
“Billy gave him a lovely ride. He allowed him to relax early, and I was keen for him to do it the right way around. We could have been forward and made a test of it, but he has a nice turn of foot, and he showed that.
“He had a gallop here the other day, which brought him on, and he’s still a very raw animal, but potentially a very good one.
“We’ve had some nice fillies, but he’s head and shoulders above any colt we’ve trained.”
Bow Echo will now be roughed off for the year and brought back with the aim of winning the 2000 Guineas next May, a race for which he’s now as short as 10/1.
Boughey added: “He’s a miler at the moment and, although he has some 10-furlong horses in his pedigree, we’re happy at a mile and this was a nice trial for next May. I was quite relaxed during the race and it’s nice to have a Classic horse on our hands.”
THE first autumn meeting at Newmarket was a good one for Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, who had three winners from five runners at the fixture, including a double on Saturday, as Boiling Point added to the Royal Lodge win of Bow Echo when landing the Cambridgeshire for Karl Burke and Clifford Lee.
The top weight was emulating connections’ Liberty Lane in carrying a big impost to victory in the Cambridgeshire in successive seasons and did so by rallying strongly in the dying strides to nose out Indalo (Roger Varian/Jack Mitchell) having made all the running until headed briefly by the runner-up deep inside the final furlong.
“Cliff is so good from the front,” said Burke. “Even with top weight there was no point pulling him around. It was all about getting him in a nice rhythm and he was either good enough or he wasn’t.”
Around the tracks
JOSEPH O’Brien was on the score sheet at Hamilton on Monday with what was probably the easiest winner of his career. In a two-runner maiden over five furlongs, 1/33 favourite Eat Pray Run (Oisin Orr) was left alone leaving the stalls when her only rival, Supermissy (Ian Jardine) stumbled and unseated rider Andrew Mullen.