Newbury Saturday

A STRONG headwind was an important factor in racing at Newbury last Saturday, and it seemed to count against the front-runners in the Group 2 Hungerford Stakes with Richard Hannon’s Witch Hunter springing a 12/1 surprise having been held up last under a cool Sean Levey.

The son of Siyouni was 50/1 when landing the Buckingham Palace Stakes in June and had been beaten in listed and Group 3 contests since his Royal Ascot success, but was suited by the way this race panned out, and spearheaded a one-three-four for his trainer.

Of those to race prominently, New Endeavour (Roger Varian/Tom Marquand) fared much the best, and briefly looked in control after taking the overall lead with a quarter of a mile left to run, but he was cut down late by the winner, who scored by a length with favourite Chindit (Pat Dobbs) beaten a further three and three quarter lengths in third in an effort which must be considered a little disappointing.

“He won at Royal Ascot and you can’t get better then that, but he’s improved all year,” Hannon said of the winner. “I’m a bit disappointed with Chindit, but he’s not as good when confronted with a rain-softened surface.

“Chindit was the best horse and you couldn’t see Witch Hunter winning, but looking back he was very unlucky not to win the all-weather championships at Lingfield, while Jamie Spencer gave him a great ride at Ascot. Chindit will go to Mr Poonawalla’s stud in India.”

JOHN and Thady Gosden’s Arrest had the ground against him when fancied for the Derby and the King Edward VII Stakes on recent starts, but he was firmly back on course on rain-eased ground at Newbury when winning the Group 3 Geoffrey Freer Stakes under a vintage Frankie Dettori ride.

Behind King Of Steel at both Epsom and Ascot, Arrest had looked good when winning the Chester Vase in the mud, and put himself firmly in the reckoning for the St Leger with a stylish length and a half win over the staying-on Ching Shi (David Simcock/Hayley Turner). The subject of relentless support when the rain arrived in Berkshire, the son of Frankel was returned at 5/6.

On his only ride of the day, Dettori sent Arrest straight into an early lead, but kept him wide on the track until pursued more closely by Jack Darcy on the inside after three furlongs. That rival challenged early in the straight, but failed to get Arrest off the bridle, and soon dropped away, leaving the winner to maintain a largely uncontested lead, with the runner-up merely keeping on past weakening rivals.

The winner was cut to 6/1 from twice that price with the sponsors for BetFred St Leger at Doncaster next month (10s were available after York), and the longer trip would appear to be well within his compass given the manner of this victory, although it would be folly to suggest he’s the stable’s main hope for the final classic, something the winning jockey was quick to remind the waiting journalists. “Everyone expected the ground to be a bog,” said Dettori. “But it’s good to soft. He was the Derby favourite so he had to do that. He’s one card for the St Leger, but let’s see how Gregory gets on next Wednesday.

“He’s one of a bunch of top horses John is sending to York, it’s a very strong team and I can’t wait. Soft ground is not an issue with him, if it’s soft at Doncaster it would be fine.”

Ripon Saturday

LAST Saturday was Ripon’s richest raceday of the year, and the feature race was the competitive Great St Wilfrid Handicap, which was won by the Grant Tuer-trained Sophia’s Starlight under a fine front-running ride by Sam James.

The 7/1 shot passed the post just a head in front of the fast-finishing Summerghand, who was gaining a third placing in the race having ‘won’ the race on the wrong side of the track in both 2019 and 2022. Sophia’s Starlight has been progressive all year, and was becoming just the second three-year-old to win this contest since Pipalong triumphed in 1999.

Round-up

AN unusually blank Perth for the raiders, but there was an Irish-trained winner at Newmarket on Saturday when the Michael O’Callaghan-trained Night Sparkle (James Doyle) landed an emphatic victory in the one-mile-six-furlong Jenningsbet Fillies’ Handicap from a mark of 93.

The success gained a performance rating of 100 from BHA handicapper Adam Barnes, so with an automatic 7lb penalty, she will be racing off that mark in the valuable Friends Of The Curragh Irish Cesarewitch, should connections choose to take that route.