Tue 30 Apr 2019
2018 winner Isabel de Urbina
Goodwood Racecourse stages the Opening Saturday fixture this weekend, May 4, with an excellent seven-race programme featuring two Listed contests for fillies and mares plus the £50,000 Goodwood May Food Festival Handicap.
Coronet, who has raced consistently in Group One races on her past four starts, is the standout among 14 entries for the £50,000 Listed British Stallion Studs EBF Daisy Warwick Stakes (2.05pm) over 12 furlongs. Trained by John Gosden, the five-year-old Dubawi mare finished second in three G1 contests and third in the other during 2018, including an agonising nose defeat by Waldgeist in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in July.
Gosden won the inaugural running of the British Stallion Studs EBF Daisy Warwick Stakes in 2011 with Gertrude Bell. The Newmarket handler has also engaged Enbihaar, who finished fourth in the Listed Noel Murless Stakes at Ascot in October. Cheveley Park Stud’s Pilaster, trained by in-form Roger Varian in Newmarket, could return to the scene of her biggest triumph, having landed the G2 Qatar Lillie Langtry Stakes over two furlongs further at the Qatar Goodwood Festival in August.
The homebred Nathaniel four-year-old finished third on her 2019 return in the Listed Further Flight Stakes at Nottingham on April 10. Varian sent out the 2017 winner, Ajman Princess. Another entry with winning form at Goodwood is Magnolia Springs. The Eve Johnson-Houghton-trained four-year-old captured the 10-furlong Listed Height Of Fashion Stakes at the track in May last year during a light three-year-old campaign. The daughter of Shamardal was sixth on her comeback in a 10-furlong Listed race won by subsequent G3 scorer Morgan Le Faye at Longchamp on April 7.
Johnson-Houghton, based on the Berkshire downs at Blewbury, reported: “Magnolia Springs has done well physically since she won at Goodwood last season. “I was really pleased with her run behind Morgan Le Faye. We went over to France hoping for some cut in the ground, but it was actually quite quick. “When you consider that, I thought it was a good effort, and hopefully Goodwood will get a bit of rain to help her.”
Newmarket handler William Haggas has two possible contenders in Klassique, last seen out when just touched off in a G3 contest at Saint-Cloud in October, and lightly-raced Ascot scorer Alexana, who is a half-sister to high-class stayers Duncan and Samuel.
Thu 11 Apr 2019
Thirsk Racecourse opens its doors this Saturday, April 13, for the first of its 16 fixtures, with an eight-race card running from 2.00pm through to 5.55pm and one trainer about to make history.
Richard Fahey, who is based at Musley Bank, Malton, has saddled 99 winners at Thirsk since he started training in 1993 and has five chances of reaching his landmark century at the course on Saturday.
These include two-year-old Pastoral Pursuits colt Ventura Rebel (Paul Hanagan), who is owned by a Middleham Park Racing syndicate and makes his debut in division two of the five-furlong British EBF Maiden (2.30pm, 11 runners).
Fahey said: “It would be very special to record our 100th winner at Thirsk on Saturday.
“Thirsk is a very fair track and we have run a lot of horses there over the years, having plenty of success.
“We have five runners on Saturday. Ventura Rebel is a two-year-old who has pleased us at home and he is quite forward.”
Fahey has been the leading trainer at Thirsk in each of the past five years. His other runners in EBF races on Saturday are: Kidda 2.00pm British EBF Maiden (Div I)
A trainer who has hit the ground running with two-year-olds in 2019 is Upper Lambourn-based Archie Watson, who has already saddled three juvenile winners from just five runners.
Watson is represented at Thirsk on Saturday by Baileys Freedom (Edward Greatrex), who also goes in division two of the British EBF Maiden. The Baileys Horse Feeds-owned colt is from the first crop of 2015 champion sprinter Muhaarar and finished sixth on debut at Musselburgh on April 2.
Watson said: “Baileys Freedom was very green up at Musselburgh, when he wasn’t drawn very well. He just could have done with another horse on his outside and he might have gone a lot closer.
“That was only his first run and he will come on a lot for it. It was a good experience and hopefully there is more to come.
“Thirsk is a very straightforward track and I am sure he will take a big step forward in the race.”
Saturday’s programme is headlined by the £15,000 EBFstallions.com Michael Foster Conditions Race (4.50pm, six runners), staged over seven furlongs for horses aged four and above.
The contest, run over a furlong shorter prior to 2012, boasts a fine roll of honour, with previous winners including Pipalong (2000) and Markab (2010), who both went on to capture the G1 Haydock Sprint Cup later the same year. Breton Rock took the spoils in 2014 and has since gained three victories at G2 level.
This year’s starters are headed by the 107-rated Muntadab (Roger Fell/Graham Lee), who won a trio of competitive handicaps in 2018 before rounding off the campaign by taking second in the Listed Ben Marshall Stakes at Newmarket in November.
So Beloved (David O’Meara/David Nolan), a G3 winner in 2015, was second in G2 company last year, while six-year-old Flying Pursuit (Tim Easterby/Rachel Richardson) was runner-up in the valuable Coral Sprint at York in 2018 and tackles seven furlongs for just the second time in his career.
Other contenders include Aeolus (Ruth Carr/James Sullivan), who captured the 2015 G3 Chipchase Stakes at Newcastle, and the Khalid Abdullah-owned Vanbrugh (Charlie Hills/Dane O’Neill), who was Listed-placed in France last season for Andre Fabre and makes a first start for his current trainer.
Courtesy of Thirsk Racecourse/ Racenews
