Equinties - a frank(el) conversation

Gm Equinauts

A great Saturday’s punting kicked off with our ‘cliff horse’ PUROSANGUE, the Ferrari bolting up at York, in one of the first races of the day.

The newsletter previews and ‘Risk On’ section were on fire finding winners in UNEXPECTED PARTY, ANCIENT WISDOM, ARABIAN CROWN and COLORADA DANCER.

We’ll try and keep the winning momentum going.

Let’s dive in.

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HEADLINE ROUND UP

A FRANK(EL) CONVERSATION

When CITY OF TROY blitzed Saturday’s Dewhurst, we saw the best flat performance from a race horse since FRANKEL. That’s really not up for debate.

What is up for debate though, is whether CITY OF TROY is as good as the GOAT, FRANKEL.

This is a comparison racing fans can’t help themselves exploring, and righty so given a jubilant Michael Tabor threw petrol on that fire post-race when making the bold statement - “this horse is our Frankel!”.

Let’s face it, on a quiet day’s racing, Racing X can argue over the colour purple, so naturally the FRANKEL chat caused a few heated arguments and it was the racing industry’s most sound of mind who clarified why the comparisons can be made but with careful added context and perspective:

She’s right, CITY OF TROY already looks like an amazing horse in his ability, stature, and temperament whereas FRANKEL, at the same stage of his career, although unbeaten was still a raw, unpolished gem.

Could CITY OF TROY still find plenty of improvement as a three-year-old? Yes, of course, and being by the triple-crown winning JUSTIFY (see thread below), he would have a pedigree to suggest so but lest we forget that PINATUBO put in a performance that warranted him an RPR of 128 after his 2019 National Stakes win, two points bigger than FRANKEL achieved in the Dewhurst and four ahead of what CITY OF TROY did on the weekend.

PINATUBO failed to reach those same heights again whereas FRANKEL ran to an RPR of 130+ on eight starts after that.

That said, if CITY OF TROY doesn’t excite you, then this game isn’t for you because based on the events of Saturday, we could be in for an exciting 2024 Flat season.

RAMBLING IN KELSO

Kelso’s Edinburgh Gin Chase – a Limited Handicap contest – could be the starting point for Cheltenham Festival and Grand National hero CORACH RAMBLER, Lucinda Russell revealed yesterday.

The nine-year-old hasn’t raced since his heroics in the world’s most famous race but he did go for a racecourse gallop at Ayr on Friday.

“He went to Ayr on Friday for a racecourse gallop and loved it,” said Russell. “It was interesting because we weren’t sure whether he’d be anxious going racing again after running in a big race like the National, but he was just happy and relaxed.”

The Betfair Chase at Haydock is being looked at by connections as a potential litmus test to see if he can be a Gold Cup contender this year.

If he does make the travel to Kelso for the 3m2f contest, he could run against last season’s Grade 1 Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase winner THE REAL WHACKER as trainer Patrick Neville highlighted this race as his starting point last month.

HEADLINE WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS

COOLMORE

A Group 1 juvenile double for the powerhouse as YLANG YLANG and CITY OF TROY conquer at Newmarket. YLANG YLANG was a 1.5million gns yearling, by FRANKEL and out of SHAMBOLIC who is by SHAMARDAL. She looked beat but once she hit the rising ground her stamina kicked in and won well in the end, the soft underfoot conditions helped. A newsletter winner:

CITY OF TROY is a homebred, if he did go through the ring he would have been a similar price if not more than YLANG YLANG. CITY OF TROY’s dam is TOGETHER FOREVER who won the Fillies Mile, and beat AGNES STEWART that day who is the dam of Moyglare winner FALLEN ANGEL. The plaudits were pretty loud and clear from Aiden, after all these years training “this is the best 2yo I’ve trained!”. Another one for the stallion roster at Fethard.

DUBAWI 

A treble of Gr3 winning 2yo’s for the Darley champ DUBAWI. Sire of the Gr3 Oh So Sharp Stakes winner DANCE SEQUENCE, Gr3 Autumn Stakes winner ANCIENT WISDOM and Gr3 Zetland Stakes winner ARABIAN CROWN.

It’s well documented that Charlie Appleby hasn’t had the most successful season but he looks like he has 3 horses just from the last few days, to really make an impact next year over a mile and a mile and a half.

ANCIENT WISDOM’s win in the Autumn Stakes made it 4 wins in 4 years for the Godolphin outfit. Past winners have included COROEBUS and GHAIYYATH.

A big newsletter double landed:

MAWJ AND OISIN

The pair celebrated Gr1 glory in the Gr1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup and in doing so hand Saaeed bin Suroor his 500th Group win. The form of the 1000 Guineas looks quite classy. TAHIYRA has since won the Irish 1000 Guineas, Coronation Stakes and the Matron Stakes. MATILDA PICOTTE, who was placed back in May, beat her elders with Oisin on board in the Gr3 Challenge Stakes back at the Rowley Mile.

WINX’S MOTHER

VEGAS SHOWGIRL, the dam of the champion WINX, passed away peacefully on Sunday morning. Her famous daughter is about as famous as Kylie Minogue in her native land down under. The winner of 25 Group 1 races and the first horse to win the Cox Plate 4 times.

THINK ABOUT IT

The winner of the $20 million The Everest, a 1200 metre (6 furlongs) race in Sydney was bought for a mere $70,000 as a yearling. And also, a monster gamble was landed as one Aussie correctly selected the first 13 home and in the process winning $10 million dollars!

YOUNG BLOOD

18.30 KEMPTON

ENCHANTED LIFE is a full sister to Gr3W and Gr2p GIFTED MASTER. She was bought for 475k. Surprised we haven’t seen her out yet as she looks precocious and is a January foal.

On the shortlist CATHERINE PARR by BLUE POINT is a Godolphin homebred. Dam won on debut at 2 in October, she went on to be a dual Gr3 winner and was bought by Godolphin for 825k. She has produced a Listed winner from 3 foals to race for her. Market to guide.

LUMIERE D’OR by TOO DARN HOT ran second on debut behind a nice filly. The form looks moderate, best watched again.

LADY PAGASA made a promising debut and then ran poorly nto, it’s possible the debut run flattered her as the form isn’t amazing. The second run was over 6f so it was possibly too short for her as her promising debut run was over 7f. Back to 7f today.

CARPATHIAN ran a pretty moderate debut with a hood on but she was only beaten a length behind LADY PAGASA. Step up to 7f will suit and has a handy draw.

WELLBORN By KINGMAN, dam a half sister to Gr1W JUST THE JUDGE. Hooded on debut so clearly not straightforward (KINGMAN fillies can be a bit hot) and made need the run for educational purposes.

TOPANGA is a good looker, she was half bought back by Luca Cumani’s Stud Farm Fittocks at 230k as a yearling. Looks the part on paper being by SIYOUNI and dam o/o Gr1W TIMEPIECE. Drawn in the car park and trainers 2yo’s come on a lot from their debuts so best watched today.

The rest look like they’ll need the run and are best watched today.

Verdict: ENCHANTED LIFE looks solid at the head of the market, keep watching the market but she looks the one to be on. The boys in blue won’t let her go in unbacked. CARPATHIAN with a good draw can outrun her huge odds and is the ew play.

STATS OF THE DAY

No standout stats today.

RISK ON

14.55 HAWK JET

Step up should suit on pedigree and at 7/1 she should be an ew to nothing.

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