ASCOT WEDNESDAY
LUCA Cumani has an improving stayer in Mizzou, who took a firm step on the road to the Ascot Gold Cup by winning the Group 3 Longines Sagaro Stakes at the course in impressive fashion on Wednesday.
A four-year-old son of Galileo, Mizzou went from strength to strength last term and has clearly come on again.
Awkward leaving the stalls and not quite able to match strides with the leaders in the early stages, he made relentless headway under William Buick in the straight, went on before the furlong pole and had two lengths to spare over Vent De Force at the line with Forever Now back in third. The big disappointment was Sir Mark Prescott’s 11/4 favourite Pallasator, who was spent after turning for home.
Mizzou will have to stay an extra half-mile in the Gold Cup, of course, and it is worth making the point that firm ground meant five absentees this week. There would certainly have been no point in running Tac De Boistron, who stays the Gold Cup trip but must have give underfoot.
“Luca has a lot of faith in him,” Sara Cumani said of the winner, who cracked the two-mile course record. “The decent pace suited him, though William said he wouldn’t want the ground any faster. He’ll probably go for the Henry II Stakes at Sandown, then on to the Gold Cup.”
Coral were impressed and cut Mizzou from 20/1 to half those odds for the feature on the third day of the royal meeting.
LIMATO SPRINTS AWAY
Henry Candy has a very talented sprinter on his hands in Limato, who retained his unbeaten record in the Group 3 Merriebelle Stable Pavilion Stakes over six furlongs.
Successful four times as a juvenile, the 6/4 favourite was always prominent in the centre of the course, led approaching the furlong marker for James Doyle and strode clear to beat Tendu and Adaay by a length and a half and the same. It looks as if he can go to the very top.
“He simply oozes class,” Doyle said afterwards. “He’s been working a bit lazily but he woke up cantering to the start. He’s straightforward and raced the whole way without any cover. What he lacks in size he makes up for with his engine.”
Candy, always very open and honest with the press, admitted he had not been overly optimistic beforehand, which is probably why Limato started at a seemingly generous price.
“He was very rusty and had a good blow afterwards,” he said. “He hadn’t shown anything like the quality he had last year but I think that will have straightened him out mentally and physically. He may have one more run before the Commonwealth Cup.”
That is the new race - and a very valuable one - for three-year-olds at the Royal meeting. Limato is as short as 5/2 favourite (from 9/2) in places.
On a card producing several Royal Ascot clues, Richard Hannon’s newcomer Log Out Island, 9/2, looked very smart when beating previous winners in the five-furlong conditions stakes. The Norfolk was mentioned, though he will probably go for the National Stakes at Sandown in the interim. Marco Botti was disappointed to miss the Sagaro with Tac De Boistron but sent out 7/2 chance Moohaarib to win the Listed Paradise Stakes over a mile. Beating Hors De Combat tidily is smart form and the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes may not be as optimistic a shout as it sounds.