Equinties - Amo firing again

Gm Equinauts

A hard weekend of punting with some odd results was almost totally eclipsed yesterday as the highly-anticipated Group 1 National Stakes turned into the talk of Racing X.

The Group 1 of the weekend played host to what was quite possibly the gamble of the season land…and resulted in Amo Racing throwing their toys out out the pram and with them Kevin Stott too!

The incredible event kicked off when Aidan pulled his odds-on fave CITY OF TROY from the race. Cue the market madness as HENRY LONGFELLOW, the now sole representative of Ballydoyle, was SMASHED in the betting to replace CITY OF TROY as the odds on fave.

And after he brushed aside BUCANERO FUERTE in the pre-market betting, HENRY LONGFELLOW did it on the track too, winning by an easy 5 lengths with BUCANERO FUERTE a disappointing third.

What a way for Aidan to hit the 4000th winner mile stone. Wow.

Anyway, let’s dive in.

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HEADLINE ROUNDUP

4000th TO REMEMEBER

HENRY LONGFELLOW’s success marked O’Brien’s 4000^th all-time winner in good style as the improving DUBAWI colt was cut from 10/1 to 9/2 for the Guineas next year, however, apparently the best two-year-old is yet to come from Ballydoyle.

What do we make of the win? Unfortunately for BUCANERO FUERTE backers, the race set up perfectly for the well-backed favourite. CUBAN THUNDER acted as the pacemaker of the race for Amo Racing’s first string, yet BUCANERO FUERTE was keen and only sat a couple of lengths off, making the pacemaker less effective than he should have been.

But, take nothing away from the winner as his sectionals between the four and six poles were very good, though he was stopping a bit quicker than initially thought on the run to the line.

Now we just have to wait until the Dewhurst for CITY OF TROY, a whole month away.

And despite YLANG YLANG’s disappointment in the Moyglare Stud Stakes, Ballydoyle celebrated success in France as WARM HEART built on her Yorkshire Oaks win to succeed in the Prix Vermeille under James Doyle.

FALLEN ANGEL GETS UP

Arguably up there on the scale of impressiveness yesterday was FALLEN ANGEL’s success in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes and she, alongside runner-up VESPERTILLO, pulled away by over four lengths in a decisive victory for Karl Burke.

The two-year-old grey filly is a first Group 1 win for her first-season sire TOO DARN HOT and was well-backed all morning from 9/1 to 4/1 and duly obliged under Danny Tudhope, a jockey who was glowing with praise after.

And based on her form this season, she was more than entitled to deliver a performance of that nature as she put three lengths between her and SOPRANO with ease at Newmarket in August and was an eye-catcher at Sandown on her seasonal reappearance behind SHUWARI, a horse we have yet to see since.

On the back of the win, she is the new 11/4 favourite for the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile and can be backed at 8/1 for the Guineas next season.

WARM FORM

Circling it back to WARM HEART, the other interesting result to note going forward came in the Group 2 Blandford Stakes as LUMINERE ROCK careered away under Dylan Browne McMonagle to beat the fancied JACKIE OH.

She was second to WARM HEART over 1m4f in the Ribblesdale at Royal Ascot before two runs on soft ground at the Curragh and in France, but back to slightly better ground and 1m2f did her well and she was an impressive winner for Joseph O’Brien.

This further adds to the idea that WARM HEART is a seriously impressive horse, so with this in mind, which horses have finished behind her that should be on the radar?

We backed SEA OF ROSES for Andrew Balding at the beginning of this season in France and since then she has been a tricky customer, but she did well at Ascot and followed up with a nice run behind CHESSPIECE – a subsequent Group 2 Gordon Stakes runner-up and general 14s poke for the Leger – at Hamilton. She doesn’t mind cut in the ground and could be a player at 66/1 in the Group 1 Fillies & Mares Stakes on British Champions Day.

With a similar target, FREE WIND got to within a head of WARM HEART in the Yorkshire Oaks and connections have been desperate for Group 1 blacktype with her – is the feature mares race on Champions Day going to be her day in the sun?

Further back, Dermot Weld’s SHAMIDA was third to WARM HEART in a maiden at Leopardstown in May and has since won three in a row including a Group 3 success at the Curragh last month – she is entered for the Group 2 Park Hill Fillies’ Stakes on Thursday at Doncaster as well as the Fillies & Mares on Champions Day (20/1).

QUICKFIRE NEWS

BUYING WINNERS

Wathnan Racing continue to make a splash in the Owners ranks. They are advised by Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock who knows the time of day when selecting stock for the track. A Gold Cup win to their name already in COUAGE MON AMI, REMARQUEE also looks like a filly who could win at the top this year.

NATIVE AMERICAN was snapped up after his won at York, trained by Richard Fahey who had initially sourced him for €75,000 as a yearling. It is Wathnan Racing’s first winner on Irish soil, and a juicy €300,000 prize.

AUGUSTE RODIN

The son of DEEP IMPACT who at the start of the year was going for the Triple Crown but in the spring disappointed massively bounced back in a big way.

A journey of ups and downs, he got lit up in the Guineas and ran no sort of race in the mud but went on to land the Derby double. This weekend he won Champion Stakes over 1m2f and has now booked his place on the plane to California for the Breeders Cup where he’ll run in the 1 1/2mile Turf race.

Aidan obviously feels that the quick ground won’t be an issue, and although he won on heavy ground as a 2yo at Doncaster, he is a lovely mover.

ARC SPOTS UP FOR GRABS 

PLACE DU CARROUSEL won the Prix Foy for Al Shaqab Racing and Ballylinch Stud. Sired by LOOE DE VEGA, she is one of 19 Group 1 winners as she won the Prix de L’Opera last year on Arc Day. However, she’ll be going into the real thing this year as she will be entered for the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe.

FEED THE FLAME is another candidate for the Arc in October. He has been off for 2 months and it probably showed, plus he has only ran the 5 times. He went down fighting to the German Derby winner FANTASTIC MOON but they look like they are taking different paths.

LANWADES BREEDING SUCCESS

ELDAR ELDAROV is bred in the purple, from a deep Lanwades family and picked up the St Leger yesterday.

His granddam is the Champion older mare in Germany ALBANOVA, who has bred ALGOMETER, ALIGNAK and ALWILDA. ALWILDA is also the dam of ALPINISTA the 6x Group 1 winner and Champion filly and Arc winner. ALBANOVA is also a full sister to ALBORADA, the Champion 3yr Old filly in Ireland and twice the winner of the Champion Stakes.

ELDAR ELDAROV is also by DUBAWI, who no doubt has also added some (more) class to the family that is littered with champions.

SEA THE MOON is now commanding a fee of £25,000 and he has a very good flag bearer in FANTASTIC MOON. The German Darby winner followed up in the Gr2 Prix Niel and looks likely to go to the Japan Cup or the Breeders Cup instead of the Arc. Sea the Moon has 4 Group 1 winners to his name, and continues his best season to date.

YOUNG BLOOD

One more month of Young Blood and then this section will change to bumper previews!

14.55 BRIGHTON

MIGUEL by first season sire PHOENIX OF SPAIN sets the bar in this having been placed second and third on both his starts to date.

HAPPY PLACE is by first season sire CRYSTAL OCEAN, she’s a three parts brother to BLESS HIM who was a Gr2 winner and Gr2 and Gr3 placed. She made a fairly promising debut at Epsom, Hayley rode her to give her a good experience. She’ll improve a lot from it and she’s a big player in this.

MEDICIAN STAR cost 28k as a yearling last year, he makes his debut for the Michael Bell yard. Dam won on debut but didn’t progress from that.

GREGORINA cost 19k as a yearling, his half brother GLENALL was a maiden but was Listed placed at 2. Wears a hood. Best watched on debut.

COMPTON BAY was well beaten by MIGUEL lto, needs a lot of improvement to reverse that form.

Verdict: MIGUEL to beat HAPPY PLACE. 5/1 straight fc is a speccy play.

STATS OF THE DAY

Only one stand out stat today in INVESTMENT MANAGER 15.50. He’s going for the hat trick at Newton Abbott and Joe lands 1 in 3 in handicap chases there.

RISK ON

It’s hard enough finding one horse to win so a forecast is always speccy but we’ll try our luck with the two horses in the Young Blood preview.

14.20 UNCLE DICK

Clear on numbers and fancied to win. 13/8 is a play.

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