Tag Archive for: Blue Bolt

Blue Bolt strikes in Distaff heat

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Blue Bolt continued her progression with a third straight victory in the Coral Distaff at Sandown.

Beaten into fifth place as an odds-on favourite for her racecourse debut at Southwell in April, Andrew Balding’s filly has not looked back since, bolting up at Windsor in May before following up with a comfortable success at Newbury in June.

She was a 2-1 favourite to complete her hat-trick at Listed level in Esher and having grabbed the lead from an early stage under Colin Keane, the daughter of Blue Point found plenty for pressure in the straight to score by a length from Cajole.

“When I saw the draw we had (stall three), I knew there was no point in taking her back,” said Keane.

“I’m still getting the hang of the place, for a stiff track it’s hard to come from too far back off the pace. When the ground is like that, being on the pace helps and being on a nice filly is an even bigger help.

“It’s such a stiff track, when you turn in on the straight you’re climbing the whole way and I suppose horses struggle to make up ground on it.”

Richard Hannon’s Dubawi gelding Classic came good in the one-mile Coral Challenge.

The five-year-old has often looked better than his bare form, and a switch to front-running tactics under Sean Levey unlocked that potential as he claimed success by a length and a quarter at 6-1.

“I was sick of seeing him be unlucky, looking like he has all the ability in the world, we know that,” said Hannon.

“Today he looked like he was never going to get beaten. Jack (Hannon’s son) said to me a furlong from home ‘is Sean OK, he looks like he’s injured or something, he’s not trying’. He was trying!

“This horse has had a lot of near-misses and he’s an extremely talented horse who is by a stallion (Dubawi) where anything is possible.

“He could well turn out to be a Group horse and could come back to seven furlongs no problem – he’s got loads of speed and loads of ability.”

Mudbir came to the fore for John and Thady Gosden in the Coral Celebrating 50 Year Eclipse Sponsorship Handicap, prevailing by half a length under Jim Crowley having started at 9-2.

The Kingman colt is owned and was bred by Shadwell and is a half-brother to their multiple Group One winners Mostahdaf and Nazeef.

A gelding operation looks to be key to Yahber after his smart win in the Coral “Pipped-At-The-Post” And Win Handicap.

Trained by William Haggas and ridden by Tom Marquand, the three-year-old son of Sea The Stars was the 9-4 favourite after showing signs of promise when second at Redcar last time.

He duly delivered over the 10-furlong trip, triumphing by a neck for owner Sheikh Juma Dalmook Al Maktoum.

“I’m really happy with him, he’s been gelded and to be honest it’s probably going to be the making of his future,” said Marquand.

“William and his team decided to do it and it’s been the making of some really fun horses we’ve had like Addeybb.

“This guy is obviously plenty talented and it seems to have done the trick, hopefully it will set him on the right trajectory now.”

The concluding Coral Golden Rewards Shaker Handicap then went the way of Flying Frontier, an 8-1 chance under Rossa Ryan who rallied late to claim a narrow victory on the line.

Blue Bolt strike sees Keane waste no time in celebrating Juddmonte position

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Colin Keane made the perfect start as Juddmonte retained jockey when Blue Bolt recorded a bloodless victory at Newbury on Thursday.

It was the first time the six-time Irish champion had donned the famous colours of the Abdullah family since his appointment was announced on Monday, as he took the reins aboard Andrew Balding’s Windsor scorer Blue Bolt, who was sent off the 6-4 second-favourite for the Darley EBF Fillies’ Novice Stakes.

The Irishman left little to chance with a positive ride and having asked his mount to quicken and put the race to bed passing the two-furlong pole, Blue Bolt soon put distance between his rivals.

Although seeing her advantage shortened by Roger Varian’ Majaz in the closing stages, Blue Bolt was still a length and a quarter clear at the winning post to help rubber stamp Keane’s position as first choice to one of the leading ownership operations in racing.

Keane said: “It’s the perfect start and she is a nice filly who was a good winner the last day and seems to have stepped forward again.

“She’s very uncomplicated, she just gallops on and is a nice filly. It felt very easy for her in the first half of the race and I was trying to take her back a little bit and she just got a bit lonely once she had quickened away from them. But I would say she is a filly with a nice future.

“I’m very privileged to be asked to wear these colours and they are iconic in racing. I have grown up looking at them and their farm is only up the road so I’m in a very privileged position.”

Although this was Keane’s first ride on a member of the Juddmonte string in an official capacity, he has twice tasted Classic honours in their silks when winning the Irish 2,000 Guineas with both Siskin in 2020 and John and Thady Gosden’s Field Of Gold only last month.

Field of Gold dazzled in the Irish 2,000 Guineas
Field of Gold dazzled in the Irish 2,000 Guineas (Niall Carson/PA)

It is the latter that could prove Keane’s trump card at Royal Ascot next week and speaking to Sky Sports Racing he added: “He was very good on the day (in the Irish Guineas) and he felt like a proper horse. I don’t think I’ve ridden one as good as him to be honest.

“Only time will tell, but I think a fast pace would help him and bring him along further (in the St James’s Palace) and hopefully he’s then good enough to pick them off.”

Earlier on the card George Boughey’s 8-11 favourite Moonfall opened his account at the third attempt when a two-length winner of the first division of the Local IQ EBF Novice Stakes, while Charlie Appleby’s heavy odds-on favourite Time To Turn was turned over in the second division by Clive Cox’s 28-1 outsider A Bit Of Spirit.