Hot on the heels of his victory in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham, young Freddie Gingell posted a treble at Exeter for Paul Nicholls on Monday. Hector Crouch repeated the feat of three winners at Southwell later in the day.
Tuesdays are not usually news driven days outside of Cheltenham and Royal Ascot but this week was an exception. Roger Varian’s stable star, Charyn has been retired after 19 runs, 7 wins including 3 Group Ones. George Boughey trained Wide Margin to win at Lingfield making it 100 winners in 2024 for the Newmarket handler.
Now for other news from Lingfield’s 9 race card. Epsom Faithfull won the 1.40pm race at odds of 100/1, however this was surpassed when Ashford Hill won the 3.25pm, returning at 125/1 “Good Lord”. Those two huge priced winners were not the headline news of the meeting though.
The first race of the day was an apprentice handicap over 2 miles. The outsider of the 5 runner field was 28/1 chance Certain Style, who made virtually all the running after being presented with a soft lead by her rivals and was never challenged in the race. She won by 22 lengths and the four other apprentice jockeys were handed a 10 day holiday courtesy of the stewards. They were deemed to have failed “to take all reasonable and permissable measures” during the race. The Major is not in the business of battering jockeys, especially young and inexperienced ones but ” it did look shocking to the eye”.
Wednesday saw the Cartier Awards take place and City Of Troy won best 3 year old colt and Horse of The Year. Other winners were Charyn, Porta Fortuna, Kyprios, Bradsell, Shadow of Light and Lake Victoria. Many congratulations to all the winners.
The “Know Your Limits with BetMGM Maiden Fillies Stakes” advertised to start at 4.40pm at Wolverhampton on Thursday, looked an ordinary affair but we may have been exposed to a very smart debutant by the name of Falakeyah. She looks very, very good. Owner Sheikha Hissa, trainer Owen Burrows and jockey Jim Crowley could have something very special to look forward to.
After working with Sir Gino at Newbury earlier in the week, Constitution Hill was reported lame and unlikely to make his appointment in the Fighting Fifth up at Newcastle next Saturday. Other news from Nicky Henderson was the retirement of Luccia, a five time winner who was also placed in a Champion Hurdle. She disappointed and pulled up on her reappearance at Wetherby and is going off to stud. The Major wishes her well.
Saturday was packed with top class racing. Over at Punchestown, Ballyburn began his career over fences and won by 13 lengths in the beginners chase. State Man was sent off 4/9 for the Unibet sponsored Grade 1 Morgiana Hurdle after Lossiemouth withdrew, but Gordon Elliot’s five year old mare Brighterdaysahead prevailed. She was headed at the last and State Man looked to be edging to victory but the mare fought back bravely on the run in to win by 3/4 of a length.
Over at Haydock another Grade 1, the Betfair Chase was taken by Royale Pagaille following up last year’s victory. Grey Dawning, for the Skeltons looked to be going the best but rather landed on all fours at the last, and gave the ultra tough Royale Pagaille a chance to grind out the race on the run in. Many congratulations from the Major to Venetia Williams, Charlie Deutsch and the Mrs Ricci. This winner provided the Riccis with their 100th Grade 1 success.
At Ascot the Grade 2 races were taken by Pic D’orhy in the 1965 Chase for Paul Nicholls. Lucky Place won the Howden Hurdle for Nicky Henderson.
The Japan Cup took place early Sunday morning and there was no fairytale ending for Auguste Rodin who finished in 8th. Do Deuce prevailed for 55 year old Yutaka Take, making it 5 wins in the race for the local jockey. Goliath fared best of the European raiders in 6th place.
Finally, Sunday’s Grade I John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase went to Fact To File, trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Mark Walsh. The JP McManus owned gelding was half a length clear of Spillane’s Tower at the line, under the same ownership. This should be recognised as a very good effort having not raced since winning the Brown Advisory at the Festival back in March. Galopin Des Champs also ran a lovely race back in third and as Willie Mullins said afterwards ” that’s probably the best John Durkan I have ever seen”.
We lost 4 meetings to the weather this week, hopefully not a sign of things to come.
Between you and me a week tomorrow I will begin to share my free tips with you all. Watch this space chaps!