Haydock Park Saturday
BACK at seven furlongs, Ten Bob Tony (Ed Walker/William Buick) just denied the strong finish of Kinross (Ralph Beckett/Rossa Ryan), to land the Group 3 John of Gaunt Stakes at Haydock last Saturday.
The penalised Kinross launched a strong late challenge but, despite edging right under pressure, the 5/1 shot held on to win by a head, continuing what has been a tremendous run for the Upper Lambourn handler.
Volterra (Kevin Ryan/Shane Gray) ran well to finish third, a length and a half further away. Market leaders Audience and Alyanaabi were both disappointing.
Interviewed on ITV, Buick said: “This fella kept grinding and he was really good. He showed some good level of form last year and he really stuck his head out here – it was a good performance.”
“Royal Ascot is not too far away, so regarding his next step I wouldn’t be too sure. Ed’s horses are flying, and this fella has more to come. I really liked how he did it because it wasn’t made easy for him.”
Estrange all class
Once considered surplus to requirements at John & Thady Gosden’s Clarehaven Stables, Estrange (Danny Tudhope) continues to blossom for David O’Meara and gained the biggest success of her short career to date when running out a facile winner of the Group 3 Lester Piggott Stakes.
Sent off a 13/8 chance to make a winning four-year-old return, the daughter of Night Of Thunder was waited with, travelling easily and made smooth progress to lead over a furlong out.
She drew clear to win by four and a quarter lengths from Shaha (John & Thady Gosden/Oisin Murphy), with another two lengths back to Chorus (William Haggas/Cieren Fallon).
This was a smart effort for a filly who was making her debut only 10 months earlier and her only defeat came on very quick ground in the John Musker Stakes at Yarmouth on her second start.
She ended last term with a win in the Listed Gillies Fillies’ Stakes at Doncaster and her trainer was unequivocal in his praise for her.
“Danny said Estrange has a great temperament and is a dream to ride,” said O’Meara after a debrief with his jockey.
“You can put her anywhere and when you want her you just give a small squeeze, and she comes to life under you. For me and for the yard it’s brilliant to have a filly like this.
“We’ll stay away from quick conditions, but the Pretty Polly in Ireland could be considered, then there’s the Lancashire Oaks back here and the Yorkshire Oaks.
“Dare I say, if she was good enough it would be great to be considering Longchamp. She hasn’t won a Group 1 yet, but she potentially is the best we’ve had - she looks very good.”
Balmoral has Royal look
The Listed Achilles Stakes kick-started an excellent day for Ed Walker which culminated in a double on the card and a blacktype treble on the day, with Balmoral Lady landing an overnight gamble under Paul Mulrennan.
A 14/1 shot the day before, Balmoral Lady was sent off a tight 11/2 shot on the day and looked better than ever as she overcame some trouble in running to beat dual stakes winner No Half Measures (Richard Hughes/Oisin Murphy) by half a length. The progressive Shagraan (Mick Appleby/Harry Davies) finished third.
The winner had to wait for a gap to open before she could be produced, and the fourth-placed Leovanni never got the space she needed, looking unlucky not to finish closer than fourth in the circumstances.
Referencing the traffic problems, Paul Mulrennan said: “I was a little bit stuck in a pocket but the longer I was filling Balmoral Lady up the better and I just needed a little bit of room.
“When the gap came, she was brave. She’s got stronger over the winter and she’s worthy of this level.”
York Saturday
THE well-supported Scenic (Saffie Osborne) made more of the right headlines for Ed Walker at York, finishing well to outrun favourite Term Of Endearment in the Group 3 the William Hill Bronte Cup Fillies’ Stakes over a mile and three-quarters. Winner of the Listed Galtres Stakes over course and distance at the Ebor meeting last season, Scenic made ground from a poor position at the top of the straight to wear down the 2024 winner and score by a head at odds of 7/2.
“She’s a legend,” said Walker. “She was awesome here in August and David [Ward] very sportingly kept her in training.
“She’s just a really lovely, game horse and it’s a big result. We’ve always had this race in mind and then we just snuck in the race at Goodwood first, the ground was right, and we thought it might bring her forward.
“We’ll probably come back for the Yorkshire Oaks, she’s loves it here and we’ve absolutely nothing to lose; then the Prix de Royallieu at the end of the year will be the big shot for her.”
Around The Tracks
THE PricedUp Pushes EBF Maiden Fillies’ Stakes at Nottingham on Wednesday didn’t promise any headlines on paper, but the race saw an impressive winner in the shape of Wathnan Racing’s Zelaina (Karl Burke/James Doyle), who looked something out of the ordinary when making most and putting her nine rivals to the sword, beating another expensive recruit in Godolphin’s Secret Oath by two and three-quarter lengths.
The daughter of Mehmas cost a whopping £650,000 at the Goffs UK Breeze-Ups and she will seek to emulate stablemate Leovanni – winner of the corresponding race a year ago - by following up in the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Well-rehearsed
Burke also won the Nottingham contest with Beautiful Diamond in 2023, and that filly was a close third in the Queen Mary, suggesting a well-rehearsed plan is afoot with this filly. James Doyle was certainly impressed.
“She’d been doing the right things at home,” said Doyle.
“But Karl had to give her an easy time leading into this, so we were worried about fitness.
“She’s shown at the breeze and at home that she’s got an engine and she caught me by surprise out of the gates. She’s quite hot, so we’ll do a few little things to iron that out before going into Ascot.
Well-rehearsed
“You’d love to get a lead, but when they have that much pace it is hard to do that. She had a blow, and I’d expect her to come on for the experience.
“It will be the Queen Mary, I’d guess, and I suppose she was a bit more impressive than Leovanni.”