Newmarket Wednesday
Bet365 Craven Stakes (Group 3)
THE 2000 Guineas had a shake-up on Wednesday when the previously unconsidered Field Of Gold (John and Thady Gosden/Kieran Shoemark) shot to favouritism with a brilliant display in the Group 3 Craven Stakes, announcing himself as a top-class colt and promising to end John Gosden’s long drought in the Newmarket Classic.
Well-supported into favouritism at 100/30, Field Of Gold turned what looked a competitive Guineas trial into a rout, overcoming a positional bias to run out a deeply impressive winner by a margin of three and a half lengths and a head over solid yardsticks Wimbledon Hawkeye (James Owen/Harry Davies) and Aomori City (Charlie Appleby/William Buick), with the grey son of Kingman clearly training on exceptionally well from a juvenile campaign which saw him win the unfashionable Solario Stakes and finish fourth in the Group 1 Prix Jean Luc Lagardere on ‘Arc’ weekend.
“This is a trial, it’s not the Guineas and you’re not fully wound up for this,” said John Gosden, for whom a 2000 Guineas winner is a glaring omission from his list of achievements.
“The race puts them where you want them - that’s the idea of the trials. I probably haven’t had a colt win a Guineas trial like that before; he did it in splendid style.
“It is lovely to have a horse going for the Guineas and great for Juddmonte as they have both the winner of the Greenham and this horse. They can be double-handed here, or they can decide and maybe one will go to France. The family will decide.”
A TRIP to Ascot for the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes in June could be on the cards for Sajir (Andre Fabre/Oisin Murphy) after he produced a career-best effort to land the Group 3 Blandford Bloodstock Abernant Stakes on Wednesday.
The heavily-backed 2/1 joint-favourite showed a good turn of foot to lead and then held the late thrust of Grand Grey (Kevin Ryan/Jamie Spencer) by half a length, with pace-setting Lethal Levi (Karl Burke/Clifford Lee) the same distance away in third.
“We had our thoughts on making him a stallion at some point over six or seven furlongs,” Voute said.
“Oisin said he wouldn’t be out of place in the six-furlong Group 1 at Royal Ascot, as long as we can convince Andre to leave Deauville alone.
“If we’re going to make a baby stallion out of him, Ascot is where we should maybe go. There’s [The Duke of] York to consider on the way there too, but that will be for Andre to discuss with Prince Faisal.”
Newmarket Tuesday
ZANZOUN (John and Thady Gosden/Kieran Shoemark) showed much improved form on her return to land the Group 3 Nell Gwyn Stakes at Newmarket on Tuesday, needing only to be shaken up by Shoemark to come away in the closing stages to beat Celestial Orbit (Ollie Sangster/Jamie Spencer) by a length and three-quarters, with Remaat (Andrew Balding/Oisin Murphy) third and favourite Verse of Love well-held.
It took the daughter of Dubawi three attempts to land her maiden win as a juvenile, and she was sent off at 9/1 for her reappearance, but defied those odds in some style.
Not entered for the 1000 Guineas, it’s likely that Zanzoun will sport the Juddmonte silks in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches instead, and she was impressive enough here to make that a realistic option.
“I think she’d be fine on good ground; she just wouldn’t want it rattling firm,” explained John Gosden. “She handled the ground today. She’s a nice filly who has not been over-raced, and she’s trained well this spring.”
Barry Mahon, European racing manager for Juddmonte, added: “She’s a filly we thought a lot of last year, so it’s not entirely a surprise, and it’s a good result. She’s not in the Guineas, but she is in the French Guineas, so we’ll speak to the trainer and the owner and see what they’d like to do.”
PERSICA (Richard Hannon/Ryan Moore) made his fitness count when a decisive winner of the Group 3 bet365 Earl of Sefton Stakes on Tuesday, denying Ottoman Fleet (Charlie Appleby/William Buick) a hat-trick in the contest. The 3/1 shot failed to stay a mile and three furlongs in the Winter Derby on his return but benefitted from that pipe-opener as he put his rivals to the sword here.
The field was taken along by Ambiente Friendly, making his debut for James Owen, but the change of tactics backfired for last year’s Derby runner-up, who faded tamely when headed by the winner inside the final two furlongs. From that point, the race lay between Persica and the stalking Ottoman Fleet, with the former finishing off with gusto back in trip to win by two and a half lengths.
“He’s a very good horse with a high cruising speed,” said Hannon.
“We wanted to take him to Saudi, but that didn’t work out, so we stayed for the Winter Derby, and he got there very well and didn’t get the trip.
“If it turns up soft ground, I wouldn’t mind taking a chance with him [in the Lockinge]. A fast-run race would suit him perfectly.
“He is improving, and there’s been a lot of interest to buy him, but these horses are hard to make and take a long time to make.
“It was very soft ground when he ran in the Champion Stakes last year, and a mile and a quarter on that ground just stretches him at the very top level, but I’ve no doubt he’ll get to the top level.”