Weatherbys Hamilton Lonsdale Stakes (Group 2)

THE defection of Trueshan due to quick ground on top of the news that a bruised foot would keep Stradivarius out of action threatened to consign the Group 2 Weatherbys Hamilton Lonsdale Cup Stakes to historical oblivion.

But that was nothing to the oblivion to which Quickthorn (Hughie Morrison/Tom Marquand) blew his remaining rivals, with the King Henry II and Prix Maurice de Nieuil hero soon galloping into a big lead which he increased down the back straight and never looked like relinquishing.

The race was effectively over before the home turn, by which time the others were struggling to make any inroads, and the 9/4 second favourite went on to score by an extraordinary 14 lengths from favourite Coltrane (Andrew Balding/David Probert) in second.

Mesmerising

The latter held on only narrowly for that place from the strong-finishing Reshoun in a mesmerising race.

Marquand deserves praise for his enterprise, and as is often the case with a runaway leader, the other jockeys preferred to race in a group rather than set off in pursuit, hoping that the pace would slacken.

The winning rider managed that difficult feat of keeping the revs up while allowing his mount to maintain his gallop to the line, and Quickthorn kept up a metronomic gallop throughout.

The winning time was 3 mins 28.2 secs on officially good ground, which compares well with Stradivarius’s 3:27:06 in 2019 when the ground was firm.

Big guns

Marquand remarked: “You almost wish the big guns were here to see what might have happened. He also did it on ground that was probably quicker than ideal.

“I’m hugely excited for what the future might hold as he’s only just getting going.”

Morrison continued: “We’ve got three options, the Prix Royal-Oak, the Prix du Cadran and the Long Distance Cup. He is in the Irish St Leger, but he’s had a hard enough race there.”

Noble turns on the Style

Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Gimcrack Stakes (Group 2)

THE Group 2 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Gimcrack Stakes featured some talented colts, none more so than the Godolphin runner Noble Style (Charlie Appleby/Will Buick), who maintained his unbeaten record by overhauling Karl Burke’s Marshman (Clifford Lee) to win by a length and a quarter.

The runner-up’s stablemate Cold Case (Andrea Atzeni) fared best of the others, but was fully five lengths behind the winner at the post.

Noble Style – sent off a well-supported 3/1 chance in a busy market – was made favourite for the Coventry Stakes after winning on his racecourse bow at Ascot in May, where he had Royal Scotsman back in third, but had to miss Royal Ascot due to a setback.

Impressive

He returned to score in novice company at Newmarket last month, and stepped up on that performance to put himself among the very best of his generation with this very impressive performance.

The only shadow in his performance was a tendency to hang left under pressure, which meant he crossed behind the runner-up before delivering his winning challenge in the centre, having been right on the stands rail when beginning his move.

The form of Noble Style’s debut has worked out tremendously well, and he didn’t need to be at that level to score off his enforced break last time, so this victory was no surprise, but the Kingman colt was taking his form to a new level – and promising bigger efforts in future – with the manner of victory here.

Excellent

Marshman ran an excellent race in second on just his second start, and he showed blistering mid-race acceleration as he had on debut at Thirsk to show himself well above average, and clearly worthy of a place at the highest level, with the Middle Park at Newmarket likely to be the next port of call for both colts.