Tag Archive for: Anthelia

Half Million bid on the horizon for Anthelia

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Anthelia has already scooped a huge prize for connections this season and Rod Millman’s Super Sprint scorer is set to go in quest of further riches at York next week.

The four-time winner – who was bought for just £6,000 by her handler at the sales as a yearling – denied Eve Johnson Houghton’s Havana Hurricane by a short head at Newbury and will now try to replicate those heroics on the Knavesmire in the valuable Harry’s Half Million By Goffs sales race.

“She’s come out of the race perfectly well,” said Tim Palin of owners Middleham Park Racing. “It’s a good form line as well, Havana Hurricane has come out and franked the form in the Richmond and I know he didn’t win it, but he was arguably a little bit unlucky.

“She’s won four of her first five races, and Rod slightly blames himself for the Empress Stakes for getting the tactics slightly wrong, but other than that blip, she’s been flawless.

“Obviously there are decisions to make of where do we go, but in theory, we’ll probably go to Harry’s Half Million at the Ebor meeting in York.”

Anthelia’s sole defeat came when upped to six furlongs in the Empress Stakes at Newmarket, but connections have no fears about tackling the distance for a second time in a race that has a total prize-fund of over £500,000 and the Middleham team won with Shouldvebeenaring in 2022.

“Seeing is believing, but her pedigree and her style of racing suggests she will get six (furlongs) and it was just the tactics that got her beat last time,” continued Palin.

“She was very strong through the line at Salisbury, she was strong through the line in the National Stakes and she was strong through the line at five furlongs at Newbury.

“In a race like the Harry’s Half Million, they are going to go a mad pace and you are going to have to have five-furlong pace and stay six furlongs to win the race.

“She ought to get six furlongs and she only just got up on the line in the Super Sprint, so with another half-furlong she might have won another half-length.

“It is such a lucrative pot with almost £250,000 to the winner and you’re probably going to win more for finishing third in the Harry’s Half Million than you would next year for winning a Group Three. It’s definitely worth going down that route.”

Connections are inclined to dream big with the bargain buy who has turned to gold and a strong showing in Yorkshire could see the daughter of Supremacy step into Group company later in the campaign.

The Anthelia team have their eye on a visit to Salisbury next month, which could prove a suitable stepping stone to a Cheveley Park Stakes tilt against some of the best sprinting juvenile fillies of the season.

“She’s going to have an entry in the Cheveley Park because it could be a small field,” added Palin.

“She might go to the Dick Poole as well, and it could be Harry’s Half Million, Dick Poole, then potentially Newmarket if she wins one or both of those.

“If we come up a little bit short and we aren’t quite a Group filly, then we’ve always got the Listed race which we’ve already won and then the Redcar Trophy in October.

“So if we come unstuck in the Harry’s Half Million or the Dick Poole, we probably wouldn’t go down the Cheveley Park route but go down the Redcar route.”

Anthelia comes out on top in Super Sprint thriller

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Rod Millman continued his love affair with the Weatherbys Super Sprint, as Anthelia regained the winning thread to deny Royal Ascot winner Havana Hurricane in a thrilling finish to the Newbury feature.

The Devon handler credits the valuable two-year-old contest as salvaging his career when winning it for the first time with Lord Kintyre in 1997 and after striking again with Bettys Hope in 2019 was making it a hat-trick with the Middleham Park-owned filly – who was picked up for a bargain price of £6,000 as a yearling.

Anthelia was sent off the 6-1 co second-favourite and looked booked for second when Eve Johnson Houghton’s Windsor Castle Stakes victor and 6-4 market leader Havana Hurricane burst onto the scene inside the final furlong.

Regular partner Lewis Edmunds was also conjuring maximum effort from the daughter of Supremacy, though, and after showing the blistering speed that had been a hallmark of her campaign to date, Anthelia stuck her head down to be rewarded with a short-head success.

“I didn’t know if she had got there and she had to make a bit of ground inside the final furlong as Eve’s horse got first run on us,” explained Millman.

“I don’t try to buy cheap horses, I try to buy nice horses cheaply. She’s a lovely filly to be involved with and we’re so lucky to have a nice filly like this.

“It’s a wonderful race for any trainer, but especially the small trainers and it kept me in business many years ago when I was struggling and then won it with Lord Kintyre. After that people sent me horses and we’ve been fine ever since.

“We always try to have a nice horse for it and I’ve spent a lot of money on entry fees as the trouble is you have to enter them before you know how good they are. So you’re sort of running for your own prize-money, but if you’re lucky enough to have the right horse it’s a great race.

“My wife always says, what’s mine is half hers and what’s hers is hers, so she’ll enjoy this.”

Connections had deliberately skipped Royal Ascot after landing Sandown’s Listed National Stakes earlier in the season, but suffered disappointment when trying six furlongs for the first time in Newmarket’s Empress Stakes last month.

However, having bounced back with a lucrative £134,092 haul, Anthelia could now go in search of further sales race bounty before dipping her toe in at a higher level.

Anthelia in full flow
Anthelia in full flow (Jonathan Brady/PA)

“We’ll probably go for Harry’s Half Million (York, August 21) and then there’s some nice Group races later in the season,” said Millman.

“The Empress went wrong last time, but she’s a good filly and proved it today. It wasn’t that she didn’t stay in the Empress, she was just in the bad position but it wasn’t the jockey’s fault, it was my fault as I gave the instructions and I gave myself a good telling off afterwards.

“I think she’s quite nice, but it is always another ball game taking on the big girls. She’s effective over five and six furlongs and once you start trying to go further you’ve got to be a better class again to be effective at that distance, but I have not ruled it out.”

Johnson Houghton, meanwhile, could potentially seek immediate compensation at the Qatar Goodwood Festival with the runner-up having been thwarted in her continuing quest for a first Super Sprint victory.

Trainer Eve Johnson Houghton had to settle for second
Trainer Eve Johnson Houghton had to settle for second (Nigel French/PA)

Johnson Houghton said: “I’m thrilled but gutted is the best way of putting it, it’s my unlucky race.

“I’m pleased for Rod but gutted for us and I think if we hadn’t had the rain he might have won, but I can’t possibly say that as there is no way of knowing and the winner is a very good filly.

“She’s a Listed winner, we’re a Listed winner and they should have finished like that really as they are two good horses and two cheap horses we have done well with, so clever us – aren’t Rod and I clever.

“We might as well have a look at Goodwood now, but I don’t think he wants soft ground as it just dents his turn of foot. I don’t know if we’ll go go five or six furlongs just yet, I need to have a think about it.”

Empress date looms for unbeaten Anthelia

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Anthelia puts her unbeaten record on the line when she steps up in trip for the Empress Fillies’ Stakes at Newmarket on Thursday.

Rod Millman’s daughter of Supremacy has proven deadly over five furlongs so far in her career and dazzled in the Listed National Stakes at Sandown last time, but having made the decision to skip Royal Ascot, connections now head to the July course for a first try at six furlongs buoyed by last week’s results at the summer showpiece.

“She carried a 3lb penalty for her win at Sandown which obviously makes life a little bit harder but the form has stood up well and there was a couple of horses not beaten far at Royal Ascot last week,” said Millman.

“One horse was only beaten two lengths in the Windsor Castle (Dylan Cunha’s Kamakameleon) and the other ran very close in the Queen Mary (Jane Chapple-Hyam’s Eskimo Pie) and they were held behind her at Sandown, so the form stacks up well.

“She’s been a very good filly for us and has trained very well since Sandown, so hopefully she can run well again. I think she will take six furlongs well and in all her races she has finished strongly.

“It was always the plan to miss Royal Ascot. Ascot is fantastic, but it is always so competitive – this is a competitive race obviously, but it wouldn’t be as tough as a Queen Mary. All being well we’ve got a busy season planned for her if it all works out.”

Anthelia’s chief market rivals appear to be Richard Hughes’ Windsor winner Bella Lyra and David Loughnane’s Amberia who created a real impression when making all on debut at Leicester, bolting up by six lengths.

The daughter of Coulsty, who cost just €2,000 as a yearling, has since been purchased by American owners Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, with Loughnane eager to see how his exciting prospect performs up at Listed level.

Loughnane said: “She’s in good order and she’s come on both mentally and physically since Leicester.

“It wouldn’t concern me dropping back to six furlongs as she jumped and travelled and showed plenty of speed in her first start.

“Obviously it’s a massive step up in grade but we hope she can go there and be competitive and if she comes home with black type that would be great.”

Tim Easterby’s Argentine Tango accounted for Karl Burke’s subsequent Prix du Bois fourth Meelaf when they met in Beverley’s Hilary Needler and heads to HQ in winning order, as does Hamilton scorer Midnight Tango who could continue the Ed Walker and Kieran Shoemark hot streak in a race the stable won with Celandine 12 months ago.

Hugo Palmer’s Game Striker arrives on the back of a win last time, with the Manor House handler also saddling Miss Piggle. Gemma Tutty’s Awraad completes the line-up.