Charlie Appleby is confident Distant Storm is heading to York as a “big player” for Wednesday’s Tattersalls Acomb Stakes.
The Godolphin team went to €1.9million to secure the colt’s services at the Arqana breeze-up sale in May and he gave them an immediate return on their investment when making a successful start to his career, albeit narrowly, at Newmarket’s July Festival.
That form could hardly have worked out better, with not only the runner-up Constitution River and the third Catullus winning since, but also the fifth, sixth, seventh, ninth and 10th home.
🔵 Winning debut
1.9 million guineas buy Distant Storm (Night Of Thunder) gives @godolphin, Buick & Appleby yet another win on the July Course pic.twitter.com/CuTT7Xrv3V
Couple that with the fact Distant Storm is bred in the purple as a son of Night Of Thunder out of Date With Destiny, who was the sole foal produced by the brilliant George Washington, and it is no surprise Appleby is expecting a bold showing from his charge on the Knavesmire.
“I’m very pleased with the way he has come out of Newmarket, he ran as we expected and has always shown himself up as a nice horse,” the Moulton Paddocks handler told Tattersalls.
“The Acomb was a race we had in mind once he broke his maiden. The way he’s done since his maiden means we’re going with confidence that he will be a big player.
“He’s a horse that’s developing all the time and hopefully looks as though he has got a bright future.”
Italy in the parade ring ahead of the bet365 Superlative Stakes at Newmarket (Joe Giddens/PA)
The biggest threat to Distant Storm appears to be the Aidan O’Brien-trained Italy, who landed cramped odds on his Leopardstown introduction before finishing second to Appleby’s Saba Desert in the Group Two Superlative Stakes on the July course.
O’Brien said: “He ran well at Newmarket. The race was a bit messy but he ran well, he was still green.
“We think and hope he should have come on a bit and we’re expecting a nice run.”
Other contenders include Andrew Balding’s Newbury winner Gewan and David Menuisier’s Goodwood Galaxy, who won on his debut at Salisbury before placing a highly creditable fourth in Goodwood’s Vintage Stakes.
“He ran a good race at Goodwood and it makes sense to run here,” said Menuisier.
“I think he’ll be better over a mile, but there’s no ideal mile race coming up right now so it makes sense to go for the Acomb and then we’ll probably step him up in trip.
“He was slowly away at Goodwood and without that he could have finished even closer, but that is all in the past now and we’re looking to the future.”
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Danon Decile will add a global flavour to this year’s Juddmonte International Stakes at York. But 20 years ago it was the Italian job, as Electrocutionist sent sparks flying on the Knavesmire.
The last international raider to win the highlight of York’s season, Electrocutionist – rather fittingly ahead of the latest renewal – had a Japanese star a neck in arrears as daring trainer Valfredo Valiani enjoyed the crowning moment of his career at a place he will always hold dear.
“They are great memories and I love York, it is a gorgeous racecourse,” said Valiani, who also enjoyed Group One success on the Knavesmire with Super Tassa in the 2001 Yorkshire Oaks.
“Coming from Italy we don’t have up and downs, we have flat tracks and flat training centres, so York was just perfect.
Electrocutionist winning at York (John Giles/PA)
“The welcome we got from the racetrack was great and everyone was so nice to us. I can’t help but love York, as it is a place that has been so lucky for me.
“I have won Group races in Italy and France and England, but those wins at York are definitely the best achievements of my career.”
With Electrocutionist a champion in his native Italy, Valiani had long held ambitions of sending his nation’s flagbearer on the long raid from his base in Pisa to Yorkshire.
However, it was while the colt was lodging with the Italian’s compatriot and mentor Luca Cumani in the build up to his York date that excitement hit fever pitch, after Electrocutionist turned up the voltage under big-race pilot Mick Kinane with a scintillating piece of work on the Newmarket gallops.
Kinane would prove the final piece of the puzzle and after being given in-depth guidance on the eve of the Group One showpiece, Valiani’s gladiator was ready for his showdown with Kazuo Fujisawa Japan Cup hero Zenno Rob Roy in the white-hot atmosphere of York’s equine Colosseum.
Jockey Mick Kinane was a vital cog in Electrocutionist’s York win (Niall Carson/PA)
“In May he won a Group Two in Italy and then he won the Gran Premio di Milano and straight after I said we’re going to run in York and I was pretty sure he would do very well,” said Valiani.
“We went there with a lot of confidence because I sent the horse to England about a month before the race and he did a very nice piece of work in the lead up under Mick Kinane on the Al Bahathri.
“I spoke to Mick at the Bedford Lodge Hotel the night before the race showing him all the videos of his previous races.
“I was talking him through them, showing him where I thought the jockey was doing well or doing wrong. I think we probably spent an hour talking and I just told him to to wait as long as he could, but then during the race I couldn’t help but think he had got him a bit too far back.
“He showed his class and won by a very short distance and when Mick jumped off he said ‘I knew I was going to win coming round the bend’ and I told him he should have called me as I have almost had a heart attack!
“He was a hell of a horse and it gave me great satisfaction.”
Valfredo Valiani, former trainer of the British Group 1 winners Super Tassa and Electrocutionist, studying the catalogue at the SGA Sale in Milan. pic.twitter.com/vkV0Hyveht
With a mid-race health scare avoided and his greatest racing accomplishment secured, the Tuscan trainer’s thoughts immediately turned to conquering Europe’s most prestigious middle-distance prize, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
Parisian dreams would ultimately be vetoed, with Electrocutionist instead heading to Woodbine’s Canadian International for what would be his final start for Valiani in a spell that yielded six heroic victories and only two defeats.
Valiani said: “After York I wanted to run in the Arc, I was pretty sure he would have been in the first two and I still don’t think I was wrong, he could easily have done that.
“There were big discussions that lasted days and I ended up running him in a race in Canada and that is the only regret I really have with him that he didn’t get to run in the Arc.
“The only race he ever lost in Italy, he was beaten a nose by Shirocco, and the ground was slightly soft that day and he didn’t like that, he was a fantastic racehorse.”
Arc regrets will never diminish the Italian’s achievements on the Knavesmire and a love affair that had begun four years prior to Electrocutionist’s finest hour in Valiani’s care, when outsider Super Tassa silenced the swarming grandstands with her shock 25-1 triumph in the Yorkshire Oaks.
Super Tassa (left) winning at York (John Giles/PA)
That would be Italy’s first Group One triumph in Britain since Marguerite Vernaut’s successful sortie on the Champion Stakes in 1960, with the exploits of both Super Tassa and Electrocutionist ensuring Valiani’s place in both Italian and Yorkshire racing folklore.
“I think I have the best strike-rate at York in Group One races,” quipped Valiani.
“Super Tassa was 25-1 and I chose Kevin Darley to ride her as she was a filly who liked to come from behind and having watched a few races at York thought he was the perfect man. He did a hell of a job.
“I remember when Super Tassa won there were only four people shouting – my great friend and my teacher Luca Cumani, the owner Cyril Humphries, myself and my vet. Everyone else wasn’t talking at all because she caused such a shock.
“I love being a bloodstock agent, but I will never forget my training career which went on for 25 years and those days at York which were so lucky and so great.”
As for Electrocutionist, he would further advertise his class after Godolphin purchased him, winning the Dubai World Cup for Saeed bin Suroor and Frankie Dettori, before finishing second in both the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
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Windsor officials declared the Free Digital Racecard At raceday-ready.com Apprentice Handicap void after a false start, with five of the seven riders involved each banned for 10 days.
Beaumadier, ridden by Conor Whiteley, appeared to anticipate the stalls opening, while at the same time Master Zack reared up under Ryan Kavanagh, with the gates triggered in the melee.
Kavanagh stepped on to the side of the stalls and Master Zack ran away with the blindfold on, breaking through a couple of the plastic rails but was caught and reported to be none the worse for the experience.
That left six running over the five furlongs, including Beaumadier who was very slowly away after his stalls incident and detached from the group, with Tommie Jakes passing the post first on Michael Attwater’s Cabeza De Llave.
Jakes told Sky Sports Racing: “I wouldn’t have seen the starter waving a flag as I was drawn wide. I don’t know why it was a false start anyway.
“I know a horse reared up just as I left the gates but I didn’t think anything of it really. I did hear a bit of screaming at the start but I thought that was when the one reared up.
“We just heard on the commentary and I didn’t see any flag, so I just carried on.”
Jack Doughty, Jack Dace, Taryn Langley and Alec Voikhansky all completed the course on their respective mounts and along with Jakes received a 10-day for failing to pull up.
Richard Westropp, chief stipendiary steward said: “Stall two (Beaumadier), the door flapped back into his path as the start was activated, so on the basis of that the starter called a false start.
“His flag was raised as it should be. All the horses ran but stall four (Master Zack) got loose.
“On the basis of the starter calling a false start, the recall man was stood right in the middle of the track, he waved his flag and blew his whistle, so procedures were followed to a tee.
“The jockeys told us in the inquiry they did not see the flag or hear the whistle, bar Mr Whiteley who did on horse number two, who actually activated the false start in the first place. He did see and made every effort to pull up his horse up.
“All the jockeys bar Conor Whiteley and Ryan Kavanagh have been banned for 10 days. Every jockey is entitled to an appeal, that is entirely up to them.
“Our footage is very clear, the recall man is stood in the middle of the track and blowing his whistle. I think all the procedures were followed correctly.”
Dace’s ban will run from September 3-13 inclusive, while the other four riders will be sidelined September 1-10.
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Aidan O’Brien’s Diamond Necklace is among 19 entries for Sunday’s Virgin Bet Prestige Fillies’ Stakes at Goodwood.
The daughter of St Mark’s Basilica is a half-sister to Magic Wand and Chicquita and made a winning debut at the Curragh when beating better-fancied stablemate Minerva.
O’Brien has also entered Beautify, the only horse to beat Nunthorpe-bound Lady Iman this season, and Precise.
Sir Mark Prescott’s Moon Target, the Owen Burrows-trained Touleen and George Boughey’s Awaken, second to Venetian Sun in the Albany, are other top-class prospects entered.
As is David Menuisier’s Inis Mor, who created a favourable impression when winning on her debut at Newmarket, although she does have another option.
“She’s entered at Newmarket on Friday as well as the Prestige. We need to decide whether to run her with a penalty or in the Group Three,” said Menuisier.
“It wasn’t really a surprise how well she won, she had been working well in the morning. I don’t know about the strength of the race, but she’d always worked well.
“She can only improve when she goes up in trip when you see her pedigree.
“The aim is to run her in the Arqana race, the Criterium d’Automne, on the day before the Arc.”
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The next destination for Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe favourite Kalpana is expected to be decided by the end of this week.
Connections are weighing up whether to go down the ‘Enable route’ and head to Kempton for the September Stakes or the more traditional path to the Arc by running a top-class filly in the Prix Vermeille.
Andrew Balding’s four-year-old is without a win in three races this season but has performed with credit in the Tattersalls Gold Cup, the Pretty Polly and the King George at Ascot leading to her heading the lists for the ParisLongchamp showpiece.
Owners Juddmonte won the Arc last year with Bluestocking who, like Kalpana, finished second in the King George and also ran in the Juddmonte International before winning the Prix Vermeille.
“Kalpana remains in good form,” said Barry Mahon, Juddmonte’s racing manager.
“She’s had a little freshen up but we’ve yet to fully commit to where she’s going to go next.
“The options are the September Stakes on the all-weather at Kempton or the Prix Vermeille.
“Hopefully we’ll have a decision by the end of this week.”
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Shock Sussex Stakes winner Qirat has been supplemented for the Sky Bet City of York Stakes on Saturday.
The Ralph Beckett-trained four-year-old was added to the Sussex field late in the day, primarily to carry out pacemaking duties for Field Of Gold, but he became the biggest-priced winner of a Group One in modern history at 150-1.
It cost his owners Juddmonte £70,000 to add him to the Goodwood race and they have paid another £40,000 to run him in York’s seven-furlong contest, which boasts top-level status for the first time this year.
“It looks the right race for him and Ralph felt strongly about it,” said Barry Mahon, racing manager for Juddmonte.
“The owners are happy to go along with it, he showed plenty of pace in the Sussex and while a mile is his optimum, I don’t think he’ll have any problem dropping back to seven.”
After his hold-up last week, Richard Hannon has rerouted Rosallion, narrowly denied by Qirat at Goodwood, and the pair are in line to meet once more.
Mahon said: “It looks like we could meet Rosallion again and we know he’s a top-class horse, but he obviously had a little issue last week which stopped him from running in France. We’re looking forward to taking him on again and hopefully we’ll be able to maintain our position from Goodwood.”
Hugo Palmer’s Seagulls Eleven, also a winner at Goodwood in Group Three company, is another, supplemented for the race.
Andrew Balding’s Never So Brave will aim to maintain his progression having won the Summer Mile last time out while Maranoa Charlie comes over from France to represent local owners Bond Thoroughbreds.
Lake Forest, Audience, Exactly, Cosmic Year, Quinault, Ten Bob Tony, Ides Of March and Annaf make up the total of 13 contenders.
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Adrian Murray is relishing stepping up to seven furlongs with his Phoenix Stakes hero Power Blue in next month’s Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes.
The son of Space Blues followed in the footsteps of Murray’s other Group One scorer Bucanero Fuerte when downing Aidan O’Brien’s True Love at the Curragh, proving his top-class potential after a string of fine runs in defeat since winning the opening race of the Irish turf season in March.
His handler has been delighted with his progress and even has half an eye on next year’s Classics as he looks forward to an appearance on day two of the Irish Champions Festival.
“I’m looking forward to the National Stakes with Power Blue and stepping up a furlong might even suit him better,” said Murray, who confirmed the aforementioned Bucanero Fuerte will run on the same card in the Flying Five Stakes after his win in the Group Three Phoenix Sprint.
“You would have to be looking at him being a possible Guineas horse and he would be entitled to be entered for those races.
“It will all depend on how he progresses from two to three but he’s done nothing but improve and he’s always been competitive, even when he has been beaten. Win or lose, he always shows up on the day and he ran a blinder the other day.
“His form is top-drawer stuff and he’s proving he’s a top-drawer horse.”
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A fascinating six-runner field has been declared for the Juddmonte International at York on Wednesday, headlined by a rematch between Delacroix and Ombudsman.
The pair met in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown, where Ryan Moore conjured a tremendous last-gasp effort from Aidan O’Brien’s Delacroix to deny the John and Thady Gosden-trained Ombudsman.
Ombudsman had earlier been very impressive in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot and the four-year-old has yet to finish out of the first two in seven career starts.
Delacroix followed the traditional Ballydoyle Derby route to Epsom, winning the two Leopardstown trials, but never looked happy in the premier Classic. Back at 10 furlongs last time out, he showed this true colours.
The race truly lives up to its International name this year, with Danon Decile having travelled over from Japan for the contest. He was last seen beating subsequent King George winner Calandagan in the Dubai Sheema Classic.
Daryz, from the same Francis-Henri Graffard stable as last year’s runner-up Calandagan, represents the Aga Khan Studs, aiming to be the first French-trained winner since Triptych in 1987.
Andrew Balding’s See The Fire, a 12-length winner of the Middleton Stakes over course and distance earlier in the season, is another with strong claims.
Birr Castle, supplemented last week, is set to play the role of pacemaker for Ombudsman.
Seven go to post in the Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes, where dual Derby winner Lambourn is the standout.
O’Brien’s colt faces three stablemates in Mount Kilimanjaro, Stay True and Thrice, while Paddy Twomey’s Carmers, the unbeaten Queen’s Vase winner, could give him plenty to think about and Dante winner Pride Of Arras aims to bounce back after being gelded.
Coolmore and Godolphin face off in the Tattersalls Acomb Stakes, with Italy and Distant Storm respectively in a field of eight.
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Hollie Doyle will no longer act as the retained rider to owner Imad Al Sagar, with Oisin Murphy instead due to take up the position.
Doyle was in the saddle each time Al Sagar’s star mare Nashwa took to the track, guiding her to three Group One victories at the peak of her career.
The formal retainer may have now come to an end, but Al Sagar and his racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe hope to maintain their link with the rider.
Hollie Doyle enjoyed some huge moments with Nashwa (David Davies/PA)
The latter said: “We’re keen to stress that we have had a fantastic relationship with Hollie throughout, and we hope that will continue for many years to come in different forms.
“There are, however, moments when it is time for a change and Imad felt this was the right time to move on.
“We will now use Oisin, when available, in the absence of Hollie.”
Doyle told attheraces.com: “Unfortunately, I was informed on Friday I’d lost my long-standing retainer with leading owner Imad Al Sagar. It came as a bit of a shock, particularly at this stage of the season.
“I’ve been a part of Imad’s operation for five years, riding 38 winners including at the highest of levels. We’ve enjoyed numerous stakes winners, a Royal Ascot winner and a Classic winner with the wonderful Nashwa in the Prix de Diane in 2022, followed by two further Group One successes.
“I have nothing but the utmost respect for Imad and would like to thank him for giving me such an amazing opportunity at a formative stage of my career. I wish him and the team the very best of luck in the future.”
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Precision timing proved key when Richard Hughes tasted Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes glory as a jockey and his expert judgement could see Sayidah Dariyan peak at the perfect moment when she takes aim at York’s feature sprint on Friday.
Often content to bide his time in the plate, patience has again been the Irishman’s watchword in the training ranks, ending his long wait for an elusive first Group One success as a trainer when No Half Measures won the July Cup earlier this summer.
And ahead of Sayidah Dariyan’s attempt to quickly double his tally at the highest level, the 52-year-old remembers delivering Edward Lynam’s Sole Power with aplomb in the 2014 Nunthorpe, a ride which is often referred to as Hughes at the height of his powers.
Richard Hughes knows what it takes to win at York (Mike Egerton/PA)
A shock winner when surging home at 100-1 four years previously, the seven-year-old was an established name in the spiriting division and fresh off victory at Royal Ascot when Hughes entered the stalls aboard the 11-4 favourite.
What would ensue in the following 57.92 seconds was a display of calculated decision making as Hughes weaved his way to the front in the nick of time in an exhibition of horsemanship which was a hallmark of his decorated career in the saddle.
“It was really straightforward and I always felt it was a race you needed to get your fractions the same every furlong,” said Hughes
“It looked like Sole Power was quickening but he was going the same speed from the two-furlong pole to the one as he did from the one-pole to the winning post, I would say, and it was the others which stopped.
“I had no choice for four furlongs as I was flat to the bat, I know I was sitting on him but I couldn’t go any quicker.
“It was only then when the pace finally collapsed – and it took a good while but it eventually did – and they were all in a bit of a heap and collapsed at a similar time that I got going, and I had a bit of luck along the way to get through the pack.
“It does give you some extra satisfaction when you win like that and I enjoyed it, that’s for sure.”
There are many ways to get a job done and while Sole Power’s daring late dash is the showreel finish any jockey would be proud to wax lyrical about, in stark contrast, Hughes’ first Nunthorpe triumph aboard Oasis Dream in 2003 was a mere formality as the outstanding sprinter of his generation blew away his rivals.
Majestically handled by John Gosden, he was an impressive winner of the July Cup before dropping back to five furlongs to prove equally spellbinding on the Knavesmire, leaving Hughes with little doubt where he stands in the pantheon of sprinting greats.
Richard Hughes (left) with Oasis Dream after winning the Nunthorpe (PA)
He said: “He was very, very fast and able to maintain it. He was a young horse at the time so he was exuberant.
“He would be one of the best sprinters I rode, he was third at Royal Ascot but won a July Cup and a Nunthorpe and not many do that, he was very good.”
With triumphs in the saddle now confined to the memory bank and perhaps the odd photographic reminder on a wall, attentions turn to the next chapter in Hughes’ Nunthorpe history book when Sayidah Dariyan takes her place in the showpiece sprint event.
Successful over the course and distance in her most recent outing, Hughes is confident the talented daughter of Dariyan is coming to the boil at just the right time, as the Weathercock Stables handler looks to cap a breakout year in the training ranks at the scene of some of his finest hours on horseback.
“It would be lovely to win as a trainer,” continued Hughes. “It might be a bit harder than when I was a jockey but we hope we have a great chance.
“Sayidah Dariyan really is going the right way and last time when she won at York, it was the first time she was ridden the way I like.
“She was covered up and ridden for a turn of foot by Billy (Loughnane) and she just exploded. We were able to see the best of her ridden that way.
“I don’t think coming back to five furlongs will be too much of a hindrance to her, she’s quite fast.
“I wouldn’t swap her for anything and with No Half Measures as well, we know we have two nice fillies.”
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Racing’s planned strike next month could be a “futile political gesture” that risks “antagonising” the Government, the Betting and Gaming Council has warned.
The British Horseracing Authority, in conjunction with racecourse operators the Jockey Club and Arena Racing Company, has announced there will be no racing on September 10 in protest at a proposed change in the existing structure of online gambling duties, with fears the current 15 per cent tax on racing could be increased to the 21 per cent levied on games of chance.
Fixtures at Carlisle, Uttoxeter, Lingfield and Kempton will not take place on their original date, instead being rescheduled, while a campaign event will be held in Westminster on the day of the strike, with senior leaders set to be joined by racing figures in highlighting the issue.
The BGC, which is the industry body, has said bookmakers were not consulted on the strike decision and feel collaboration with racing is key to a satisfactory outcome.
A spokesperson said: “Racing’s decision to reschedule fixtures was taken without consultation with betting operators, whose support for the funding of the sport is mission critical. We are concerned that futile political gestures will only antagonise the Government and frustrate punters, instead of delivering a solution to a shared challenge facing both racing and betting.
“We want to work with racing constructively to prevent further damaging tax rises, as any new tax rise on any part of betting or gaming can only undermine racing’s revenues and threaten investment in the sport – already a more expensive and less profitable product for operators.
“At the same time, higher costs and avoidable disruption risk driving customers to the unsafe, unregulated black market, which pays nothing to racing or the Treasury and offers no protections for consumers.
“The regulated betting and gaming industry contributes £6.8billion to the economy, generates £4bn in tax, and supports 109,000 jobs. Crucially, our members provide £350million a year to racing, alongside vital funding for other sports. Put that at risk, and it is customers and communities across the country that lose out.”
Speaking earlier in the day on Racing TV’s Luck On Sunday programme, the BHA’s acting chief executive Brant Dunshea explained the sport felt compelled to take “its own position”.
He said: “We’ve been trying to sit down with the BGC for months and talk about issues around the levy reform and that has proven to be a challenge.
“So on this occasion, racing is taking its own position. We are taking a clear, strong position on what we believe the impacts of this principle of harmonisation will have on us.
“We have to back ourselves, we are an enormous sport across the country – we are the second biggest spectator sport. Five million people attend racecourses every year, we’ve got to be able to stand up on our own two feet and argue a case for us and that’s what we’re doing.”
A Treasury spokesperson said: “We are consulting on bringing the treatment of online betting in line with other forms of online gambling to cut down bureaucracy – it is not about increasing or decreasing rates, and we welcome views from all stakeholders including businesses, trade bodies, the third sector and individuals.”
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A giant leap with the talented Nahraan is unlikely this season, with connections inclined to take a patient approach with the unbeaten son of Make Believe.
Out of a half-sister to owner Prince Faisal’s recent Prix Maurice de Gheest scorer Sajir, the John and Thady Gosden-trained colt impressed in his first two outings before taking the step up to Listed level in his stride in the Glasgow Stakes at Hamilton.
He did have the option of following in the footsteps of the owner’s illustrious Mishriff in Deauville’s Prix Guillaume d’Ornano or York’s showpiece Juddmonte Stakes and while a trip to France was always favoured from those two, the Nahraan team have decided to keep their powder dry for the time being.
ParisLongchamp’s Prix du Prince d’Orange on September 14 – a race the Clarehaven team won with Ombudsman 12 months ago – could prove a suitable alternative, although Prince Faisal’s racing adviser Ted Voute stressed there will be no rush with the exciting prospect.
“There was no rain forecast at Deauville and John just felt he’s unbeaten so far, why risk him,” said Voute.
“It’s a shame we couldn’t go for the Prix Guillaume d’Ornano with Charlie Appleby not running Ruling Court, the last chance to run against his own age and sex for decent prize-money.
“Oisin (Murphy) suggested the Prix du Prince d’Orange could be a nice alternative, but I haven’t spoken to John to see what he is thinking.
“He won’t be jumping up far and we won’t be doing something silly. We’re happy to take a patient approach and if that boils over into a four-year-old career before he tackles the big targets, then so be it.”
Prince Faisal also has a two-year-old on the rise housed with the Gosdens, with Frankel colt Oxagon holding plenty of significant entries for the latter stages of the season.
Not disgraced in a hot Newmarket maiden on debut, he then bolted up with a degree of ease when an eight-length scorer at Sandown, with Voute intrigued to see where his training team will head next.
“He’s got entries in all the right races, but John and Thady will decide where they want to go,” added Voute.
“In real terms we did have an apprentice on claiming in a class four last time, but he won like a good horse and his time was good and the style in which he did it was very good.
“We’ve got to keep our feet on the ground at this stage, but John and Thady may be showing their hand a little bit with the entries which suggests they see something they like, so it will be exciting to see which race they choose.”
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Tornado Alert is on a break before some lucrative targets in the Middle East beckon.
Saeed bin Suroor’s latest Group One winner had been asked four stiff questions in the first half of the season, running in the 2000 Guineas, Derby and at Royal Ascot before his success in Germany.
The Godolphin trainer now has his sights set on Bahrain before taking him out to Dubai and potentially Saudi Arabia.
“He’s fine, in good form, but I’ve given him a break. It’s likely that I’ll keep him back for the race in Bahrain (International Trophy, November 14),” said Bin Suroor.
“I just want to give him an easy time and miss York as he had been very busy, he ran in the Guineas, then the Derby, then Royal Ascot.
“I’ll get him started on some light exercise, then in September we can start working him before going to Bahrain, he’ll be ready for it. He needed a break.”
He added: “After Bahrain I’ll take him to Dubai and if he’s good enough, I’ll take him to Saudi Arabia. We’ll see how good he is on the dirt first and if not he can run in the turf race, I’ll have to see.”
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