Not many Flat races are won by 22 lengths, and even fewer when they are Classic trials. So Aidan O’Brien can be forgiven for saying Betfred Oaks favourite Savethelastdance’s performance at Chester was a little unusual.
Well beaten on her only outing at two, the Galileo filly arrived on the Roodee on the back of a Leopardstown maiden win at odds of 20-1.
But she will never be close to resembling that price again. Sent off odds-on in an admittedly below-standard renewal, there was nothing below-standard about her display as despite being niggled along early, she took off just after halfway and pulled further and further clear.
“I’m not sure you can ever be confident, you’re always hopeful,” said O’Brien, who is bidding for a fourth straight win in the Classic and 11th overall.
“It’s a different track, it will be different ground, so for everyone it will be interesting and we’ll learn a lot. That is why we all go racing and we’ll be watching like everyone else.
“I think it’s going to be very exciting to see what does happen when she has all those different things to contend with, but what she has done so far looks a little bit different.
“When you go up in distance lots of different things can happen. We’ve won the Oaks with fillies who have never run over anything near the Oaks trip before, so lots of different stuff can happen, there’s a lot of quality fillies in there so it will be exciting for everyone to see who comes out on top on the day.
“We started her this year in a very good maiden at Leopardstown that usually good fillies come out of and she won and I suppose everything has gone very well since.”
Reacting to her wide-margin win in the Cheshire Oaks, O’Brien said: “Her Chester run was very unusual. Usually when you see those things it can be an optical illusion as it can be a case of the rest stopping rather than one quickening up, but the times said she was quickening, which is unusual in a strongly-run race.”
While some have questioned Savethelastdance’s ability to handle good ground as well as she goes through soft, her trainer feels she should even improve for it.
“Most by Galileo we’ve had want better ground, they wouldn’t want it soft at all, and with Scat Daddy on the dam’s side you’d say absolutely she should want better ground, so it will be interesting to see. If you looked at her pedigree you’d say she wouldn’t want it soft, but she does bend her knee a little,” said O’Brien.
“She hasn’t done an awful lot of work since, she doesn’t need much as she’s a very clear-winded filly, so she’s just been cantering away and seems very happy.”
O’Brien also runs Red Riding Hood and Be Happy, both outsiders.
The only other trainer since 2014 to have won the Oaks is John Gosden and, now sharing the licence with son Thady, he looks the main threat again with Pretty Polly winner Running Lion and Musidora scorer Soul Sister.
“The fillies won their trials with authority – a Listed and a Group Three – and they very much belong in the race. Both fillies have a lot of speed, and stamina wise you never really know until you go the mile and a half,” said Gosden senior.
“They are both really bred to be mile-and-a-quarter fillies and the last bit you just don’t know, but you can’t practise it at home.”
Soul Sister’s jockey Frankie Dettori, riding in his last Oaks, which is part of the Qipco British Champions Series, said: “John kept on believing in Soul Sister.
“When she ran at Newbury the ground was heavy and John’s horses weren’t running well at the time, but she took me by surprise at York. She travelled, she quickened twice, and she clocked a very good time.
“I was impressed. She has to go an extra two furlongs but all the signs are good.”
Charlie Appleby and Godolphin took the decision to supplement Lingfield Oaks Trial winner Eternal Hope.
“Eternal Hope has done well since Lingfield. We have a nice draw down in stall five, which will hopefully help William (Buick) get into a decent position and allow the filly to run her best,” Appleby told the Godolphin website.
“She’s a filly who started her career in a Wolverhampton novice in February and all she has done is improve ever since. She’s stepped up and improved week on week. Physically, she’s got better all the time.
“She’s a trial winner, at a track that tests a horse’s ability to handle sharp bends, and she acquitted herself very well. It is seen as a test for Epsom, which shouldn’t pose any problem for her.
“As can sometimes be the case, the Oaks field will contain several who are unexposed and Eternal Hope comes into that category, even though she won a trial.
“She travelled very well at Lingfield and finished off her race strongly. She put herself into the Oaks picture as a strong contender with that performance.”
Jack Channon’s Caernarfon finished fourth in the Guineas and the trainer hopes the extra distance will bring about improvement.
“Every time we have stepped her up in grade, she has risen to it,” he said.
“We will be taking on well-touted fillies who have done very well in their Oaks trials, but they have got to step up in class and we’ve already been and proven that we can sort of mix it at that sort of level. We just hope that the extra distance will elevate her a couple of places.”
Heartache Tonight is trained in the UK but has run only in France to date for David Menuisier, shaping well in a Group One last time out.
“I think the step up in trip will definitely suit, she’s pretty much guaranteed to stay,” he said.
“Whether she will handle the track or not, we don’t know, but the same applies to all and let’s hope the ground is not too quick. She’s quite lanky and unfurnished still, so I would rather her not to run on too quick ground as we speak.
“Until we try we don’t really know, but the ground in the Cleopatre was near enough good that day and Cristian (Demuro) has always felt she wouldn’t be ground dependent, as long as it is not rattling. I’m happy to try.”
Ghostwriter gallop sparking Cox’s Classic dream
Clive Cox has been buoyed by a racecourse gallop ahead of Ghostwriter’s Qipco 2000 Guineas bid, confident his smart Newmarket form can prove a positive in the opening Classic of the season.
The son of Invincible Spirit was unbeaten throughout his two-year-old season and finished 2023 with a statement victory on the Rowley Mile in the Royal Lodge Stakes.
With that experience under the colt’s belt, Cox was happy to forego an early-season trial in favour of a pipe-opener at Kempton, with Ghostwriter – a general 14-1 shot to claim the scalp of Aidan O’Brien’s odds-on favourite City Of Troy on May 4 – reported to have thrived over the winter.
“I’m very happy with Ghostwriter and he has his Newmarket course form,” explained Cox.
“I’m very pleased he has done exceptionally well over the winter and we will be going there with a racecourse gallop under his belt. He’s done very well and that is why he hasn’t run in a trial.
“He’s been to Kempton and he’s a very athletic, clean-winded horse who has done well over the winter and we think that will have benefitted him far more than racing on testing ground, with his previous experience at Newmarket hopefully holding him in good stead.”
Another star juvenile for the Beechdown Stables team last season was the Kennet Valley-owned Dragon Leader, who suffered defeat just the once in five starts in 2023 as he proved a real money-spinner for connections.
Big victories at York and Redcar sandwiched a near miss in a valuable Doncaster event and Cox is eyeing stepping the son of El Kabeir up in trip this term when ground conditions allow him to return to action.
“He was a very productive runner last year earning over £300,000 in prize-money,” continued Cox.
“I’m pleased to say he’s wintered well, but he’s definitely better with a dry surface and we wouldn’t be making any concrete plans at the minute. When the ground gets a little bit quicker you will see him.
“Last year he was looking like seven furlongs would help him and I would be very hopeful he will get a mile. We kept him at six last year simply because he was so well qualified for those races. Six and a half was no problem for him at Doncaster though in the Weatherbys race.”
‘Mixed emotions’ for connections of Surrey Quest after epic Scottish National
Connections of Surrey Quest may have suffered agony at Ayr in the Coral Scottish Grand National, but could have bigger and better days on the horizon, with next year’s Grand National now entering calculations.
After four miles of action, Toby Lawes’ progressive seven-year-old was left to fight out a thrilling finish to the Ayr feature with Willie Mullins’ Macdermott, with the trainers’ title-chasing Irishman’s runner coming out on top after not only a titanic battle to the line but an excruciating wait while the judge deliberated over the result.
A standard-bearer over jumps for the Surrey Racing syndicate, Surrey Quest’s owners headed to Ayr full of confidence in their Kevin Brogan-ridden 20-1 shot after some promising results this season.
And despite being left with “mixed emotions” following the nose reversal at the hands of the Danny Mullins-ridden winner, they can take comfort that their charge has continued on the upward curve that has already seen him strike twice in his four starts this term.
“We’ve got mixed emotions and we thought the horse was in absolute brilliant shape heading up there,” said Clive Clive Hadingham, co-founder of Surrey Racing with Steve Grubb.
“Statistically we might have needed the run, but other than that everything went to plan and Toby was very meticulous in his preparations. He came here in great shape and everything went to plan, we just lost out on the nod.
“Winning is everything in this business and coming second, not matter how close, it feels like we came nowhere. We’d have been happy with a top-seven finish to be honest so we have to be proud. Kevin and Toby have done a fantastic job with this horse.
“We know he is a good horse and we wouldn’t have come up here if we didn’t think we had a chance. Surrey Racing as a company doesn’t go to races we don’t think we have a chance in and we’re just so proud of the run – we honestly thought at the line we had done it.
“Willie Mullins has so much ammunition and it’s just unfortunate we have come up against one of his and I guess the funny thing is if he wasn’t going for the championship he might not have been here today.”
Surrey Quest holds an entry for the bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown on the final day of the jumps season, but his exertions north of the border make it unlikely he will try to replicate what Kitty’s Light’s achieved 12 months ago and make a rapid reappearance.
Instead sights are fully turned to Liverpool and the famous Grand National fences where Surrey Quest could take in December’s Becher Chase ahead a crack at the big one itself in 12 months’ time.
Hadingham continued: “It’s just mixed emotions, we’re so proud of him and we’ve had a super time up here in Ayr. I guess now we know we’re going to go on to bigger and better things with him.
“We might have a look at the Grand National now and we might look at coming back to Ayr again. He’s such an economical jumper that now the National has changed a bit and the fences are slightly lower, that is something we can look at.
“There’s so many big races next year he can go for and the Becher is one we will look at and we’ll take it from there.”
Arrest expected to make his mark as a four-year-old
Kieran Shoemark is relishing stepping into the boots of Frankie Dettori aboard Arrest, as the St Leger runner-up makes his return in the Dubai Duty Free Finest Surprise Stakes at Newbury.
Arrest played a key role in Dettori’s UK swansong last season and was a beaten favourite for the Italian’s final Derby ride at Epsom, before just failing to send the 53-year-old off in a blaze of Classic glory when second to Continuous at Doncaster in September.
Shoemark was three places behind Arrest with Gregory on Town Moor, but having taken the reins aboard many of John and Thady Gosden’s star Clarehaven inmates since the relocation of Dettori to California, he will get the leg-up aboard Arrest for the first time on Saturday afternoon.
The 28-year-old hopes the soft-ground loving colt can build on his positive finish to last season and feels there is plenty of improvement to be seen during his four-year-old campaign.
“He’s obviously a big horse and hopefully he’s going to improve with age,” said Shoemark.
“Hopefully the ground is not going to dry out too much at Newbury and we know he wants soft ground.
“His run in the Leger was brilliant – the ground went against me on Gregory, but he enjoyed it. He’s a proper mile-and-a-half horse, not short of speed by all means, and the softer the better for him.
“He’s a big, strapping horse and I honestly believe he will get better with age. He’s entitled to, so there will be plenty to look forward to for the year ahead.”
As well as winning the Chester Vase, Arrest’s other victory last term came at Newbury in the Geoffrey Freer Stakes and joint-trainer Thady Gosden is confident the race more commonly known as the John Porter is the ideal spot to kick-start the son of Frankel’s season.
“He’s a very talented horse, he ran great last year and was second in a Classic,” he said.
“He’s developed very well over the winter and is a horse of great size and quality and he’s really filled into his frame and has been really pleasing leading into this race.
“He doesn’t mind getting his toe in at all and the track and trip should suit.”
Arrest will be in receipt of 3lb from William Haggas’ Hamish, who went through 2023 unbeaten, winning on four occasions, all at Group Three level.
Hamish is one of two in the race for the Somerville Lodge handler alongside Mujtaba, but main hopes lie with the stable stalwart, who is owned by the trainer’s father, Brian, and got the better of Karl Burke’s Al Qareem on his final start of last year in the rearranged St Simon Stakes.
The Spigot Lodge-trained five-year-old is another slated to concede weight to Arrest and his trainer is excited to get Al Qareem back on track.
Burke said: “I’m looking forward to seeing him run and he’s been ready to run for the last month.
“He’s working well, a mile and a half is his minimum trip, but on this ground I’m happy to start him off there.
“He’ll step up and be a good one-mile-six and two-mile horse later in the year. It’ll be a tough race, but I think he’ll run really well.
“We were lucky to keep him and he got travel sickness coming back (from Dubai). He’s hard work at home, Danielle Mooney rides him every day and he pulls her arms out every day, but he’s a lovely horse to have.”
Simon and Ed Crisford’s Chesspiece was behind Arrest when sixth in the Leger before finishing off his season with a silver medal in the Listed Noel Murless Stakes at Ascot.
He makes his first start after being gelded in the royal blue of Godolphin, while Andrew Balding’s Alsakib steps out of handicap company after finishing last year on a real high on home soil.
Max Vega won this in 2022 and having finished third last season, returns for a third crack, while trainer Ralph Beckett is also represented by Salt Bay.
Last year’s Irish Derby fourth Peking Opera makes his first Flat outing for Gary Moore, having been seen juvenile hurdling this winter, with Jack Channon’s Certain Lad completing the line-up.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
