Luxembourg makes all to deny Bay Bridge in Tattersalls Gold Cup

By Sports Desk May 28, 2023

Luxembourg held off Bay Bridge to make every yard in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh for Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore.

A Group One winner at two, he was well fancied for last year’s Derby after finishing third in the 2000 Guineas but missed out on the summer months with a setback.

He made up for lost time in the second half of his three-year-old campaign by winning the Royal Whip over course and distance before adding the Irish Champion Stakes, accounting for a high-class cast at Leopardstown.

Only fifth on his seasonal bow in the Mooresbridge Stakes, the real Luxembourg was on show on Sunday afternoon.

Sent off at 11-4, with French raider and old rival Vadeni the 11-8 market leader, the son of Camelot was immediately sent to the front by Ryan Moore where he remained until the winning post.

Sir Michael Stoute’s Bay Bridge was content to track the pace in the early stages and was building up momentum as the runners headed up the home straight.

Although short of room passing the two-furlong pole, Richard Kingscote was soon able to edge his mount into clear daylight and they set about laying down a stern challenge to Luxembourg in the closing stages.

But the Ballydoyle representative refused to give in and remained half a length clear as the duo flashed past the winning post, a performance that saw Luxembourg shortened to 3-1 from 10s for the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot with both Paddy Power and Betfair.

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    Karl Burke’s Marshman has a Group race return pencilled in after a pleasing second-placed run in the Cammidge Trophy.

    The four-year-old was stepping back up to six furlongs for his first outing of the season after predominantly running over shorter distances last year.

    Under Clifford Lee, the colt started as the 3-1 joint-favourite and ran a fine race to finish second by a neck when collared by William Haggas’ Montassib on the line.

    The performance has warranted the decision to return to the six-furlong trip over which Marshman was second in the Gimcrack as a two-year-old, with the Group Three Abernant at Newmarket and the Group Two Duke of York Stakes on the agenda for the spring.

    Nick Bradley of owners Nick Bradley Racing, who also owned the sixth and seventh-placed horses in the race, said: “My other two horses were in the brunt of the headwind and both found the last furlong a furlong too far.

    “Marshman took it up and he was just beaten by a very good horse that the race was run to suit.

    “I couldn’t have been happier with Marshman’s performance, for me it was one of the best three or four performances of his career.

    “I was speaking to Kelly and Karl (Burke) this morning and we’re now thinking that we’re going to go to the Abernant at Newmarket and he’ll have an entry in the Duke of York next week.

    “That’s the plan, Abernant then Duke of York.”

    Marshman’s run was part of a successful meeting for Bradley’s horses, with Look Back Smiling taking first place for trainer Gemma Tutty in the Spring Mile Handicap.

    “I did think going into it that he was our best chance of the weekend, he had underfoot conditions to suit, the track was perfect for him and the trip was perfect for him,” he added.

    “Brandon (Wilkie) gave him a brilliant ride, when he got to the front he didn’t idle but he did wander around a bit and Brandon did a great job of keeping him straight to the line.

    “Hats off to Gemma – to get a horse like that ready on the opening day of the season deserves a great amount of credit.”

    Look Back Smiling will require cut in the ground wherever he goes next and there is a long-term plot to target a valuable handicap at Ascot in October.

    “He is ground dependent, I’ve sent a list of about 12 races to the owners – a couple at Redcar, a couple at the Craven meeting,” Bradley said.

    “He’s a horse that when we get him on a straight track over a mile, he is in his optimum conditions.

    “I’m thinking a long way ahead but I’ve got the Balmoral Handicap on Champions Day in mind.

    “He isn’t going to be high enough to get in that just yet, I’m hoping by the end of the season he’ll be rated high 90s and we can go for something like the Balmoral.”

    Bradley also looks to have a promising recruit in Grant Tuer’s Indication Ember, who finished third with a taking run on her racecourse debut in the Brocklesby.

    “Her pedigree screamed soft ground at us, so we wanted to get her out when soft ground was a certainty,” he said.

    “She was staying on right to the line, she ran the fastest final furlong and she’s going to go to Redcar on April 15, all being well.

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    Although he failed to handle the Epsom undulations on lightning fast summer ground, he showed his true colours towards the end of the campaign where he came close to both correcting his Classic record and providing Frankie Dettori with a swansong success at Doncaster.

    The four-year-old colt is now poised to return to Newbury – the scene of his Group Three Geoffrey Freer Stakes victory last season – with the Arrest team hoping the mile-and-a-half John Porter on April 20 is the first step of a season that will encompass plenty of high-ranking targets.

    “He was consistent all year apart from the Derby, which I think was our own fault,” said Barry Mahon, European racing manager for owners Juddmonte.

    “John, Thady and myself got wrapped up a little bit in it being the Derby and we probably shouldn’t have run as the ground was a bit quick and the track obviously didn’t suit.

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    Juddmonte also have high hopes for the Gosden-trained Laurel as she returns to training after an interrupted campaign last year.

    The five-year-old impressed when winning Kempton’s Snowdrop Stakes last April which teed-up a shot at the Lockinge the following month and although that tough assignment proved a step too far, she was amongst the leading contenders for Royal Ascot’s Duke of Cambridge Stakes before injury curtailed her season.

    An appearance in that Royal Ascot Group Two will be Laurel’s main aim in the early part of 2024, with connections keen to get the daughter of Kingman to the summer showpiece in peak condition.

    “Laurel is back in training and John and Thady are happy with her,” continued Mahon.

    “She’s just having a slow preparation with a view to getting her to Royal Ascot later in the year, so we will probably just give her a prep run at the end of May or the beginning of June and then it will be straight to Royal Ascot if all is well with her.

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  • Adrian Murray upbeat over Bucanero Fuerte ahead of possible 2000 Guineas tilt Adrian Murray upbeat over Bucanero Fuerte ahead of possible 2000 Guineas tilt

    Adrian Murray has issued an upbeat report on the wellbeing of his Group One-winning colt Bucanero Fuerte ahead of a possible tilt at the Qipco 2000 Guineas.

    The Wootton Bassett colt won three of his five starts as a juvenile, landing the Railway Stakes and the Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh as well finishing a close-up third in the Coventry at Royal Ascot.

    He finished a well beaten third behind Henry Longfellow when a hot favourite to double his top-level tally in the National Stakes in September and he has not been seen in competitive action since, but Murray is thrilled with how his stable star has wintered ahead of his three-year-old campaign.

    “We couldn’t be happier with him now. He did his first bit of work the other day and it was very, very good,” said the trainer.

    “He’s entered for the Guineas and it hasn’t been decided yet whether he’ll go or not, whether we go up in trip or stick to six or seven (furlongs), we’ll see nearer the time.

    “He’s improved a lot in the last six or eight weeks and has gotten very strong, he’s come in his coat and looks fantastic.

    “It’s hard to say what we’ll do and he’ll tell us, but if we were to go for the Guineas we might just go straight there.

    “He turned out to be a super horse for us last year. He didn’t run up to his best in the National Stakes, our horses were under a bit of a cloud at that stage, and he never travelled at all in the race – he wasn’t the same horse that we’d seen before that.

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    Bucanero Fuerte is just one of several Amo Racing-owned horses Murray is looking forward to seeing in action this term, with Crypto Force an exciting addition to the team.

    The son of Time Test claimed the notable scalp of dual Derby winner Auguste Rodin on his debut two years ago, but has been off the track since winning the Group Two Beresford Stakes later that season for Michael O’Callaghan, having since failed to make the track during spells in training with John and Thady Gosden and latterly George Boughey.

    Now a four-year-old, Crypto Force holds big-race entries in the Alleged Stakes (April 6) and the Tattersalls Gold Cup (May 26) at the Curragh and appears to be nearing a comeback.

    “He’s doing grand and he’ll probably shortly be out, I’d say. We’re happy with him at the minute,” Murray added.

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