John Ingles of Timeform provides an overview of the key things to note for Friday’s racing.
Three points of interest
Sandown novice used as a stepping stone by smart sorts
Sandown’s valuable novice for two-year-olds has been contested in the past by youngsters who have gone on to much better things – Irish 2000 Guineas winner Phoenix of Spain among them – and this year’s renewal might well throw up some good horses too. Six of these colts are making their debuts, including Pantile Warrior for John & Thady Gosden, a Frankel half-brother to Group 2-winning filly Beshaayir. The Gosdens are also represented by Aegean Sea who, along with the Andrew Balding-trained Windlord, made a promising debut when making the frame in a maiden over this course and distance last month.
As well as winning this race in 2022 with One Nation, Charlie Appleby went close to landing a division of this contest in 2018 with Line of Duty who finished second on his debut and ended the year winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. Another Godolphin colt to make a promising debut was Arabian Crown, third last year and the winner of all four of his races since, including the Zetland Stakes and the Classic Trial back at Sandown in the spring.
Appleby’s representative this year has winning form already and Anno Domini, a son of New Bay who cost 525,000 guineas at the breeze-ups, earned the Timeform ‘large P’ symbol for his very promising debut at Newbury last month. While only a couple of lengths covered the first five home that day, one of those has already won since and Anno Domini won more impressively than his final margin of three quarters of a length suggests. Overcoming trouble in running early on, he made smooth headway before leading entering the final furlong and then ran green and idled in the closing stages. With significant improvement to come, he looks the one to beat under a penalty.
Lion’s Pride’s form is looking very strong
John & Thady Gosden don’t have a runner in the Eclipse this year but they are represented in Friday’s Gala Stakes over the Eclipse course and distance by Lion’s Pride who has a connection to a couple of the stable’s Eclipse winners. He’s by the 2018 winner Running Lion and carries the colours of Anthony Oppenheimer who owned the 2015 winner Golden Horn.
With a very smart Timeform rating of 121, it turns out that Lion’s Pride wouldn’t have been out of place in Saturday’s Eclipse field which, with the obvious exception of Derby winner City of Troy, doesn’t have a great deal of depth. On the other hand, that makes Lion’s Pride the clear form pick in this listed contest where he has upwards of 6 lb in hand over his rivals on Timeform weight-adjusted ratings.
The lightly-raced four-year-old has only had two runs on turf so far, finishing third in listed races at Windsor and Newmarket last year, but all of his all-weather form at Kempton is looking very strong. He beat stablemate Middle Earth, third in the Hardwicke at Royal Ascot last time, in a novice, while the listed race he won at Kempton later in 2023 has been boosted this season too; Godolphin’s runner-up Measured Time has gone on to win at the top level in Dubai and the USA, while the third, Belloccio, recently won the Copper Horse Handicap at Royal Ascot.
The form of Lion’s Pride’s sole start this year isn’t working out too badly either after he finished third in the listed Magnolia Stakes at Kempton in April. Runner-up Okeechobee won the Gordon Richards Stakes next time out, while winner Dubai Honour landed Sunday’s Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. Kempton’s sharp ten furlongs was a bit too much of a test of speed for Lion’s Pride but Sandown’s stiffer finish ought to suit him better.
Former Goodwood Cup winners clash in Marathon
The very first running of the Esher Stakes – run as the Coral Marathon again this year – in 2003 was won by the tremendously popular stayer Persian Punch just before he went on to win his second Goodwood Cup. Subsequent winners of this listed race haven’t come close to matching Persian Punch’s record in the top staying contests, but two former winners of the Goodwood Cup – who are entered for that race again at the end of the month – have been declared for Friday’s contest. Last year’s Goodwood Cup winner Quickthorn and the 2021 winner Trueshan are the top two in the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings with neither carrying penalties despite both being Group 1 winners last year.
The front-running Quickthorn, who also won the Henry II Stakes over Friday’s course and distance in 2022, slipped his field under regular rider Tom Marquand to cause a 16/1 surprise in last year’s Goodwood Cup. He needs to put a poor run in the Sagaro Stakes at Ascot behind him on his reappearance a couple of months ago, but it’s possible he could get an easy lead again here, in which case he could be tough to peg back. His trainer Hughie Morrison won back-to-back renewals of this race with Nearly Caught in 2017 and 2018.
At the age of eight, Trueshan is a year older than Quickthorn but retains plenty of ability for Alan King as he showed when winning the Doncaster Cup and Prix du Cadran last year. The lack of a penalty will be particularly welcome for Trueshan who was conceding 7 lb all round when beating only Quickthorn home in the five-runner Sagaro and carried a similar penalty into third behind Sweet William in the Henry II here last time. While the winner went on to run a good third in the Gold Cup, Trueshan again had to bypass Royal Ascot when the going firmed up but with good ground forecast for Sandown, he looks the obvious threat to Quickthorn if taking his chance.
Tip of the Day
Tonto Foley – 15:25 Newton Abbot
Flags: Horse In Focus, Top Rated
Although Tonto Foley did manage to win over hurdles last term for Christian Williams, his form over the smaller obstacles was no better than poor. But the strong-travelling six-year-old has already proved much better over fences and looks capable of landing his third win from five starts in chases in the two-mile handicap at Newton Abbot. After showing promise on his chasing debut at Taunton in February, he got off the mark with a bold round of jumping at the same course the following month and then followed up at Hereford in May. While his winning run was ended by surprise winner Solid Fuel at Worcester last time, Tonto Foley’s form continued on an upward curve as he kept on to pull clear of the rest. He can quickly resume winning ways here.
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