Equinties - the York awards

Gm Equinauts

York is over (thank fuck).

From a punting perspective it was tough. The first day was fine. The second day was down, the third day, NOBLE STYLE helped and the Saturday – well, by that point I was tapping out. Even with the strict staking/bank management prog I keep, it was tough mentally (that’s the chimp). I was supposed to Tweet the Teal’s yard gamble on CHIPSTEAD, late Saturday afternoon but after the bad York darts, I actually couldn’t bring myself to do it.

It wasn’t all bad though, on what was probably the hardest flat meeting of the year (fucker cheers), BGP Capital made its radio debut with TalkSport 2’s ‘Racing Live’. A big shout out to producer Ollie and host Emmet (@radioEmmet) - thank you for having us on the show. Luckily, Emmet’s show doesn’t air Saturdays, so our Wednesday and Friday tips meant we actually did alright for our debut… thank God. I think we’ll be doing more bits for them in the future.

Now, let’s dive in.

Best performance: BAAEED

Obviously couldn’t start our York review anywhere else.

The first day of the meeting saw the Gr1 Juddmonte International in which BAAEED produced a performance that will be talked about for years to come. He loved the step up in trip to bolt up and make it a perfect 10 from 10.

Shaggas’ superstar emulated the great FRANKEL by winning the £1,000,000 contest on his first start at 1m2f, a trip that looks to have brought out the best in him, leaving many asking if he will go to the Arc.

Resident timekeeper for Sky Sports, Simon Rowlands, showed that BAAEED’s performance was nearly four seconds slower than the time recorded by his dad, SEA THE STARS, in 2009, though the ground was slower than expected this year.

Where next for the horse that Shadwell Estate will be relying on as a stallion for the foreseeable future?

In what gets the BGP award for the most awkward post-race interview between Shaggas and Matt Chapman, the Newmarket-based trainer was certain that the Gr1 Champion Stakes at Ascot in October would be his next target.

However, since then Haggas told ITV Racing on Thursday that the option of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe remains “open – it’s got to be after what he did.”

Wherever he ends up, whether it is the Champion Stakes double of Ireland and England or a stab at the ultimate prize in France, his big brother HUKUM will be watching his next steps eagerly from his box at home.

Best performance (without BAAEED): NOBLE STYLE

NOBLE STYLE recorded an RPR of 107 on debut beating a quality field in stylish fashion. We had him down as one of our bankers for the week at Royal Ascot but due to an unsatisfactory blood test, he was forced to miss his assignment. His comeback run at Newmarket was okay but he has clearly improved from that a great deal. In the last 10 years, no horse has won the race from a stall higher than 10 and all week the winners were coming from the far side. He travelled strongly throughout and picked up nicely, beating a very good field this year in a good time. Whispers are that Dewhurst will be a big target for him at the end of the season despite it being a fairly unorthodox route (the previous 10 winners of the Gimcrack ran then ran in the Middle Park). He might do both… US NAVY FLAG did the Dewhurst Middle Park Gr 1 double. From last week's evidence, it’s going to take a very good one to beat him.

Best ride: HOLLIE DOYLES HUSBAND IN THE LONSDALE CUP (annoyingly)

After the late-in-the-day withdrawals of both STRADIVARIUS and then TRUESHAN, Hughie Morrison’s QUICKTHORN took full advantage of the weakened field to win the Lonsdale Cup in a jaw-dropping manner.

As soon as the flag dropped, Marquand let QUICKTHORN stride on to carry a 10-length lead from pillar to post – this extraordinary tactic caught his five competitors off guard and allowed the five-year-old son of NATHANIEL to hack up by 14 lengths.

Was this a case of great riding by Marquand or falling asleep at the wheel by the rest of the jockeys?

QUICKTHORN was setting steady sectionals of sub-13 second furlongs mid-race and the overall time was nearly three seasons quicker than last year’s renewal, won by STRADIVARIUS, so you have to say it was a proper performance from the winner.

Maybe the jockeys in behind could have closed the gap quicker, but it probably would have made no difference. And COLTRANE looked fucked. Before the race, Balding did say our boy had had a long season which was annoyingly bearish. If you think that, why fucking run him then? It was the same with MM tbf (York wasn’t good for BGP or our grads).

The win gave QUICKTHORN a hattrick of successes and great momentum to carry forward on to his autumn targets later this year:

Best training performance: IAN WILLIAMS

This really could be an award for ‘biggest set of bollocks’. In the week’s namesake race, the Sky Bet Ebor Handicap, the boys in blue denied Ian Williams’s ALFRED BOUCHER a quickfire York double as TRAWLERMAN pipped him on the line.

Under a mustard ride from Frankie Dettori, the four-year-old made all for much of the race before a quick breather at the one-furlong pole allowed him to rally again – the victory gave Godolphin their first Ebor winner since WILLING FOE in 2012.

Despite the brilliant display of riding from Dettori, it’s the runner-up who we are most interested in.

‘They’re taking their chance to get more money’…me…I said that about the connections of ALFRED BOUCHER in Saturday’s newsletter before he collected £89,950 for finishing second in the £500,000 Ebor. The risk they took worked, but it was a calculated risk and I’m sure it had been planned for a long time. They were a short head away from a genius gamble.

Overall, Robert Allcock, the owner, and everyone connected to the horse has won roughly £140,000 in prize money over four days of racing. The cost for the team at Ian Williams’s yard now is that their six-year-old will be on a lengthy holiday to recover. Fine, he deserves it.

To be honest, it was a bold move to make, and it could have gone wrong for connections, however, they got it right and have capitalised on the handicapper not being able to get to grips with the horse, so you have to commend their bravery.

On the winner. trainer John Gosden hasn’t yet revealed where the next step could be for TRAWLERMAN, but he is entered for the Cesarewitch (14/1) and the Gr2 Long Distance Cup (20/1).

People’s champion: ALPINISTA

Sir Mark Prescott’s wonder mare ALPINISTA made it five Group 1 victories in a row in Thursday’s Yorkshire Oaks, holding off the consistent challenge of TUESDAY to win.

Luke Morris, the king of the backhand whip action, delivered the Frankel mare to perfection to deny Aidan O’Brien’s Oaks heroine late on – you cannot knock her will and attitude to secure success.

All eyes are now on the future targets and SMP is not shying away from the big races - his five-year-old will be aimed for the Gr1 Prix l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in October.

Amazingly, she is the current ante-post favourite at 7/1, with the likes of Japan’s TITLEHOLDER, last year’s winner TORQUATOR TASSO, and King George successor PYLEDRIVER all close to her in the market.

SMPs comments on Racing Debate yesterday, including what ground she is better on:

Best of the rest:

Elsewhere at York last week, KINROSS reversed the form with SANDRINE in the Gr2 City Of York Stakes on Saturday to hose up by one and a quarter lengths.

This was a serious performance by the Ralph Beckett mare that shouldn’t go unnoticed in the future – she was quick on the clock (faster than the six-furlong handicap later on the card, won by Summerghand) under a calm Lanfranco, she beat all the right horses including Rohaan, Jumby, Pogo, Sacred, and Sandrine, and she powered into the race from a fair way back. You can’t ask for much more.

She holds entries for two six-furlong events and one contest over the same distance as her City Of York success: the Gr1 Haydock Sprint Cup next month and the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes over the shorter trip and the Gr2 Doncaster Cazoo Park Stakes over seven furlongs.

One day earlier, we saw a properly dominant sprinting display from HIGHFIELD PRINCESS. Racing off a mark of just 58 in September 2020, John Quinn’s five-year-old mare reeled in the much younger THE PLATINUM QUEEN, a filly who was very impressive on her first taste of open Gr1 company, to win going away under Jason Hart.

She has an incredible story behind her, something her owner, John Fairley, poetically told ITV Racing on Friday:

The sky is the limit for HIGHFIELD PRINCESS, and she is set to jet off to the USA for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, via a trip to France before – woof!

Easy Euros

Sunday was for Britain and Ireland in France as Deauville hosted a very nice card yesterday to complete a big week of horse racing, a day which saw two runners from Britain and Ireland strike in the Group 1 races.

Firstly, it was Aidan O’Brien’s BLACKBEARD who added to his previous Group 2 and Group 3 successes by winning the Gr1 Prix Morny in close fashion after a ding-dong battle with Richard Hannon’s PERSIAN FORCE.

This young son of NO NAY NEVER was very playful pre-race – he’s a baby, he’s just being naughty, but he still managed to dig in well and score under Ryan Moore.

NO NAY NEVER’S are characteristically a bit nuts which is half the reason Coolmore paid such a high amount for their new sire, WOOTTON BASSETT. That said, NNN’s are doing very, very well this year and had a particularly good weekend with both AESOP FABLES and MEDITATE winning a Gr 2, and of course, BLACKBEAR winning the aforementioned Gr 1.

It seems that O’Brien’s crop of two-year-olds heading into next season could be one of his strongest teams for a while, with the likes of LITTLE BIG BEAR and MEDITATE all setting good standards. His 3yo’s are a complete crock of shit though and people are wondering if Coolmore will send BLACKBEARD to stud early.

His mum didn’t train on, she was 4th in the Gr 1 Moyglare as a 2yo and then bottomed out in the Gr 1 Fillies Mile that season but its her 3yo form that really bad – she didn’t once finish top 4 in a Listed race that year. Given NO NAY NEVER has TEN SOVEREIGNS and ARIZONA at Coolmore, BLACKBEARD might easily be an early addition to their Stallion ranks.

Later on the card, Hannon finally got one of his horses in the winner’s enclosure as ARISTIA backed up the form of her Nassau Stakes second to NASHWA in the Gr1 Prix Jean Romanet.

The big story from the race was the disappointment of VERRY ELLEEGANT on her first start in Europe – only time will tell whether there was something wrong with her to cause the underperformance but that certainly was not the true running of the Melbourne Cup-winning daughter of ZED – hopefully, she will be back to her very best soon.

Risk On

The racing is shite today so I’m tools down but Finndog has an Irish NAP in:

18.00 SITTINGONTHEFENCE