Equinties - Hughes’ headliners

Gm Equinauts

Today consists mainly of booking trains and accomodation for York and scratching off another day on the calendar.

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

HUGHES’ HEADLINERS

The York Ebor Festival is just around the corner, and it’s really good meeting. The Juddmonte International and Yorkshire Oaks are always decent Group 1s, the City Of York is now a Group 1 for the first time, and there is obviously the Ebor itself, a race that has attracted entries from Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliott, Aidan O’Brien, William Haggas, and more. Lovely stuff.

The more you look at the entries and potential runners, the more realise just how competitive the meeting could be and one trainer who has a few very interesting runners is Richard Hughes.

Looking at his quotes in the Racing Post, he is fairly bullish about their chances too - a nice touch telling punters before the race, rather than finding out after the contest, like the July Cup!

The first horse they have to look forward to at York is AMERICAN QUEEN, who is set to run in the Group 2 Lowther Stakes after her 12, yes 12, length success at Haydock on debut. He said: "I'd say she's one of, if not my best juvenile for the season – she's definitely the fastest. We thought she'd go and win at Haydock, but you couldn't have expected her to do anything like that – when Billy [Loughnane] gave her a tap behind the saddle, which we'd never done at home, she took off.

"She's training really well and I expect her to go on a little bit more. She's really good anyway and we want to see if she's up to Group 2 level next, as who knows then what she could be. She deserves to take her chance."

AMERICAN QUEEN is interesting, as her page isn’t one that would inspire too much confidence. Four of her siblings turned into jumps horses, and she is already the best horse on the page, which is a small worry but still you can’t tale away from her how impressive her debut was, and Hughes clearly likes her so we expect her to be fighting out the places behind ROYAL FIXATION.

Just under two hours after AMERICAN QUEEN, Hughes and owner Jaber Abdullah will be represented in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes with SAYIDAH DARIYAN. As you may have already worked out by the amount we’ve been talking about the Nunthorpe recently, it could be quite the stacked race this year.

Hughes thought she was a certainty in the Group 3 Summer Stakes, and she duly obliged. She good form from the Commonwealth Cup, and both ARIZONA BLAZE (the Nunthorpe fav) and BIG MOJO have franked the form of her Royal Ascot run.

On her, Hughes said: "She's got a great chance. We couldn't be any happier with her. We've always seen that quality and we expected to win last time – we couldn't see her losing. 

"She proved she's getting better and there's no reason why she can't improve again. She's a fast filly and we've got a good guide with her from the sprinters we've got at home. Speed certainly won't be a problem for her. As long as she lands in a nice position she'll be fine. 

"If we keep them both healthy leading up to their races, then we've got two good live ones heading up. We're very excited."

She is really unexposed in this sprinting scene currently, and the current crop of sprinters is primed for one to burst through the ceiling. She could be the one.

Hughes will be having sleepless nights on the road to York, and he has fair reason to do so. These two look to have good chances in their respective races.

INTERESTING RACE

Last week, we highlighted SONS AND LOVERS’ win in the Group 3 Ballyroan Stakes, and Joseph O’Brien was thinking of some big foreign targets for him.

Admittedly, we weren’t so convinced at his prospects of winning something like a Melbourne Cup, but we had to respect O’Brien’s bullishness. Interestingly, the two horses SONS AND LOVERS beat in the Ballyroan Stakes have big targets for the future, and as we draw closer and closer to the end of the Flat season (sad face), it’s worth highlighting them.

The first is CRYSTAL BLACK, because he is a Royal Ascot winner, after all:

Connections came into the Ballyroan Stakes knowing he would need it, and that’s arguably how he ran. Colin Keane reported that “he took a blow” after his first run since April 12th, and yet he still gave SONS AND LOVERS a fair race.

His Royal Ascot success last year has received a form boost thanks to ETHICAL DIAMOND this year, and after Ascot last year, he beat the subsequent Irish Cesarewitch winner THE EUPHRATES in the 2024 Group 3 Ballyroan Stakes.

Now, the Wear A Pink Ribbon Syndicate is dreaming of Classic success with their star.
Neville Eager, a member of the syndicate, said: “We were very happy with Crystal Black's return. At one point you'd have called him the winner but Colin said he took a blow a furlong and a half out and to finish as close as he did after that was great. 

"Our aim at the start of the year was the Irish St Leger but he had a wind op and was off for 117 days. It seems to have done the job but he was never going to be fully fit going to Leopardstown, so we were very happy. He hung a bit and Ger is of the opinion he might be a little bit better going right-handed.

"He's a monster of a horse. If you look at the picture of him turning for home at Leopardstown, it's like something that would be running in a Gold Cup. It'd be great to have a runner in the Irish St Leger and be able to get a crack at some of the big guns.
"There's another race [Group 3 Kilternan Stakes at Leopardstown] the day before the Irish St Leger and we'll see what Ger thinks. We're more than happy to follow his guidance. I doubt Australia is an option this time after he missed it last year and we're probably better staying at home."

Big hopes for this fairly unexposed horse. It’s easy to forget that he’s only had two runs since he won the 2024 Duke Of Cambridge Stakes, and one of them was his seasonal return this year. Like it.

The other horse from the Ballyroan Stakes to mention is the third, SIEGE OF TROY.
Now, there are no quotes regarding this horse, and we don’t know if this is the official target, but she holds an entry for the Ebor at York later this month.

Johnny Murtagh is no stranger to an Ebor winner as a trainer (SONNYBOYLISTON in 2021), and SIEGE OF TROY is a half-sister to the Group 1 winner BUCKAROO.
With a rating of 99, has Murtagh been keeping her market sweet in order to win a big one? She’s only had the one handicap start (fourth to ETHICAL DIAMOND at Royal Ascot), and she now has some solid Group form.
She could be very interesting if she goes to the Ebor, and she’s worth watching if she does.

RISK ON

Only one bet today and it’s a tricky day punting so we’re reducing the stakes somewhat until the better racing presents itself.

17.17 BOTH OF US

Boughey knows the family well having trained some siblings and if this horse is well handicapped, he really doesn’t need to find much at all! Ew and place top 3 bet.

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