Tag Archive for: Celebration Mile

Return to Goodwood possible for Seagulls Eleven

/in /by

Hugo Palmer will monitor the Celebration Mile at Goodwood as he plots a route for Seagulls Eleven.

The son of Galileo Gold, who is owned by a group of current and former Brighton football players, finally broke his Group-race duck when landing the Thoroughbred Stakes on the Sussex Downs.

He could be heading back to Goodwood over course and distance, while a trip to Doncaster is also on option before a likely run overseas.

Palmer said: “He had some fairly tough assignments last year and as a result, despite the fact he was the 10th highest rated two-year-old in Europe, he only actually won a maiden so it’s lovely for him to be a Group winner.

“He got a couple of fairly nasty knocks as well. Henri Matisse crashed into him fairly hard in the National Stakes and he was crashed into from behind in the Breeders’ Cup.

“I think as a result when he just got very fractionally short of room in the Guineas, he just panicked and kind of pulled himself up, so we’ve worked hard with his confidence, both at home and in races.

“I thought he ran a really good race in the Jersey despite being drawn on the wrong side but on his side he was just a long neck, half a length second.

“And then he was obviously very good in the Henry Cecil Stakes (at Newmarket) and we were delighted when Charlie Appleby took his horse (Opera Ballo) out so we didn’t have to try to reverse form with him.

Qatar Goodwood Festival – King George Day – Goodwood Racecourse
Seagulls Eleven on his way to Goodwood glory (Andrew Matthews/PA)

“We’ve put him in the Park Stakes at Doncaster and we’ll keep an eye on the Celebration Mile and see how many are likely to stay in that.

“We might supplement him in that over course and distance. He would have been a horse for what used to be the Sovereign Stakes at Salisbury, but that’s gone and he’d have had a penalty in that. We’d love to potentially travel him.

“We were thinking about a $1million race at Kentucky Downs which is quite up and down, which is un-American and quite Goodwood-esque, I believe, not that I’ve been there.

“We potentially might be invited to the Golden Eagle which is worth A$10million and it’s a lot of money to pass up. So we’ll just have to see. He’s come out of the race super.”

Goodwood and Deauville under consideration for My Cloud

/in /by

Roger Varian’s Royal Ascot winner My Cloud has further Group-race targets after being ruled out of the Summer Mile.

The four-year-old was the winner of the Royal Hunt Cup at Ascot in June, prevailing by three-quarters of a length in a field of 30 to remain unbeaten this season.

He was due to return to the same track to step into Group company earlier this month, but an unsatisfactory scope put paid to that plan and he was withdrawn.

Alternative aims are now likely to be at the latter end of next month, with races both in England and across the Channel in France pencilled in.

“We had to take him out of the Summer Mile because he scoped dirty and he’s had treatment for that,” said Chris Wall, racing manager to owners KHK Racing.

“He’s still not quite ready to race yet, we had hoped he’d be ready to run in a Listed race at Pontefract this weekend, but that’s not going to be the case.

“We’re looking at races at the end of August, we’ve got in mind the Celebration Mile at Goodwood and the Prix Quincey at Deauville at about the same time.

“We hope he’ll be ready for one of those and then we’ll take it from there.”