Ralph Beckett’s Haskoy will bid to begin her season with a bang in the Al Rayyan Stakes at Newbury.
The Golden Horn filly was twice a winner as a three-year-old, taking a novice on debut and then the Listed Galtres Stakes at York in August.
Her next outing was the final Classic of the season, the St Leger at Doncaster, where she ran a fine race to cross the line in second place but was later demoted to fourth as she was deemed to have caused interference.
Her run at Newbury will be her first of the season in a career that seems to be following an upward trajectory.
Barry Mahon, general manager for owners Juddmonte, said: “She’s a star.
“To jump up from winning a maiden on the all-weather, to then win a stakes race at York days later and then be thrown in at the deep end into a St Leger and finish second past the post.
“She’s a good filly, but she’s just taken a bit of time to come to hand.”
Godolphin run a well-fancied duo, with multiple Group winner Yibir at the head of the market for Charlie Appleby.
The five-year-old has not been seen since winning the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket in July, prior to which he was internationally campaigned and only narrowly beaten in the Sheema Classic, the Jockey Club Stakes and the Man o’War Stakes at Belmont.
Appleby’s second runner is Kemari, another five-year-old gelding but a horse who was more recently seen when finishing fourth and second in the Nad Al Sheba Trophy and the Dubai City Of Gold respectively at Meydan.
The trainer told www.godolphin.com: “Yibir suffered a setback after winning in July but his preparation has gone well. He went for a racecourse gallop at Newmarket a couple of weeks ago and we were very pleased with how he went.
“If he can bring the level of form he showed as a three-year-old and what we saw last year, he is going to be the one they all have to beat.
“Kemari showed great consistency over the winter in Dubai and the ground should be lovely for him. He is a very straightforward horse in terms of his running style and will hopefully be very competitive if he can replicate his Meydan performances.”
William Haggas is represented by Gaassee, a four-time winner who returns to the track for the first time since August and since being gelded.
The trainer said: “That is a very strong race for what it is. It’s a Group Three race with lots of good horses in it.
“He has got talent – we’ve had a few issues with him, but he’s ready to go and he’ll enjoy some decent ground.
“We gelded him at the end of last season. I think he’s OK.”
John and Thady Gosden’s Israr, Andrew Balding’s Old Harrovian, Aidan O’Brien’s Bolshoi Ballet also feature.
Elsewhere there are two Listed races, the first of which is the opening BetVictor Carnarvon Stakes over six furlongs.
Godolphin and Appleby have a strong hand once again through Noble Style, winner of the Gimcrack last term and sixth in the 2000 Guineas when last seen.
Appleby said: “Noble Style goes into this in good order on the back of a pleasing run in the 2000 Guineas, when he was trying a mile for the first time on soft ground.
“We came out of that race with the mindset that sprinting was going to be the way forward.
“Working back from the Commonwealth Cup, we felt getting him back into a sprinting frame of mind here was the right thing to do. This looks a nice springboard onto Royal Ascot and we are very much looking forward to seeing him back over this trip.”
The other Listed contest is the Haras De Bouquetot Fillies’ Trial Stakes, a 10-furlong event for likely Oaks types.
Juddmonte and Beckett run Bluestocking, a daughter of Camelot who won on debut in September when taking a Salisbury novice by a length and a quarter.
“She won her maiden well. Unfortunately we missed Lingfield (last weekend), which was where we wanted to go, and she has taken time to come to herself like a lot of fillies this spring,” Mahon said of the bay.
“Lingfield was our initial plan and the filly was probably not ready to run there anyway, so the switch to the all-weather didn’t really matter to us.
“We’re just waiting for her to come and bloom and she’s coming.
“Everyone is happy with her, she’s not 100 per cent there yet, but she’s coming and just about ready to start.
“She’s a nice filly, full of potential but there is still the unknown until we see her on track and that is where we will find out what her level is.”
Deira Mile enhances Derby prospects with Windsor win
Owner Ahmad Al Shaik is again dreaming of Derby glory after Deira Mile broke his duck in routine fashion at Windsor.
Dubai Mile was ninth in the Epsom Classic last year carrying the Green Team Racing colours and hopes are high of an improved placing this term.
The Owen Burrows-trained Deira Mile remained a maiden following four runs as a juvenile, mainly due to fluffing his lines when sent off as a 1-5 favourite at Chelmsford.
However, he showed his potential when beaten less than three lengths in fourth behind Ancient Wisdom in the Group One Futurity at Doncaster and built on that by justifying short odds of 4-9 at Windsor under Jim Crowley.
Asked about Derby aspirations, his owner told Sky Sports Racing: “It is in my blood and my sons’ blood, not just me. We need to go to the Derby and one day we will win – if not me, one of my sons.
“He is still green but Jim Crowley said the further he goes, the better he will be.
“We have only 40 days now until Epsom, I don’t think we have time to run him again, so I will discuss with the trainer about going straight to Epsom and I think he will be fine.”
Burrows added: “He’s a big lad and mentally, he’s still quite immature. He had the four runs last year, but he is still a big baby.
“The plan was to try and find as easy a race as we could and it worked out perfectly. He’s ended up hitting the front a little sooner than ideal, as he gets to the front and just thinks ‘right, what do I do now?’ But he’s had a race.”
Crowley pulled alongside main market rival Castle In The Sand between the final two furlongs of the 10-furlong contest and Deira Mile responded to his urgings to prevail by four lengths.
The jockey said: “It’s the first time I’ve ridden him, but I saw him at Chelmsford last year and I think when he hits the front, he just loses concentration a little bit and he did it there, hence why I gave him a smack, because I just don’t want him to get in the habit of doing it.
“The race sort of fell apart at the two-furlong pole and I could have quite easily stayed upsides on the bridle, but he probably wouldn’t have learnt an awful lot.
“But he is learning, he’s going to progress and he stays well – he’s a lovely type of horse and he was entitled to win that race.
“His two-year-old form was very good at the back-end and I suggested to Owen we could possibly put a set of cheekpieces on him, especially in a better race where horses take him further.
“Like I said, he stays very well and there will be some lovely races for him through the summer.”
Azure Blue camp eyeing York return for comeback spin
Azure Blue has the defence of her 1895 Duke of York Clipper Stakes title pencilled in on the calendar as Michael Dods prepares his star speedster for her impending return to action.
The five-year-old appeared to be on a real upward curve in the sprint division around this time last year and followed up a Newmarket Listed win over Heredia on her reappearance by claiming the scalp of the ill-fated Highfield Princess in the York Group Two 12 months ago.
That Knavesmire victory signalled her intentions to compete at the highest level but although she got a first taste of Group One action when finishing sixth in last summer’s July Cup, niggling injuries kept her on the sidelines for the rest of the 2023 campaign.
She is now working towards a return to the track, with her trainer setting his sights on again tackling some of the season’s most prestigious sprinting events.
However, the first port of call is a return to York on May 15, with Darlington-based Dods pleased with how her preparations are going.
“The plan is to go straight to York and we’re on track for that and we’re happy with her,” said Dods. “She’s working nicely and she looks great at the moment.
“The plan is to be in all of those top sprints this year and we’re happy with her, and she’s working nicely. We’re just making steady progress until we get her on the track.
“Hopefully that will be at York, that’s the plan.”
Commonwealth Cup now the big target for Relief Rally
Relief Rally is set for a drop back in trip, as sights turn to the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot following her run in the Fred Darling Stakes at Newbury.
A winner of four of her five starts last season, she was highly unfortunate not to be unbeaten as a juvenile, with her sole defeat coming at Royal Ascot when beaten a nose by American raider Crimson Advocate in the Queen Mary Stakes.
Having changed hands for 800,000 guineas in December, the daughter of Kodiac is now owned by Zhang Yuesheng and connections decided to test their filly’s stamina over seven furlongs on her first start of the new campaign.
Despite running with real credit and finishing an honourable fourth as the 7-4 favourite, her trainer feels she should now drop back to sprinting distances and will be targeted at achieving Royal Ascot redemption in the Commonwealth Cup in late June.
“I’m certain she didn’t stay and I said to Tom (Marquand) before the race, this will be the last time she runs over this trip, but I couldn’t not run in it,” said Haggas.
“Whether she is going to be a top filly, I don’t know, but she is going to run six furlongs next time, maybe at the Lockinge meeting against the colts.
“There is a race on the all-weather at Chelmsford (on May 2) for fillies, but that feels a bit hard on her and I don’t think she will go there.
“Tom said she was very weak in the last half-furlong, when he thought he had them covered, so I’m not sure, she may have just got tired as well, but she won’t run seven furlongs again and she’s not going to be running in the French Guineas.
“We’ll try to get her to Ascot if we can, with a run before.”
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