Tag Archive for: Chipchase Stakes

Diligent Harry is Chipchase hero for Clive Cox and Saffie Osborne

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Clive Cox was thrilled to see his high-class sprinter Diligent Harry bounce back to his best with a front-running victory in the JenningsBet Chipchase Stakes at Newcastle.

Placed at Group One level in the Al Quoz Sprint in Dubai last year, the seven-year-old had failed to recapture that form in four previous outings this season, most recently finishing fifth on All-Weather Championships Finals Day at Newcastle on Good Friday.

The seven-year-old was a 16-1 shot on his return from over two months off and after a fast start, Diligent Harry quickly built up a significant lead over the chasing back and found more once challenged by Annaf to claimed the Group Three prize by a neck under an excellent ride from Saffie Osborne.

Lambourn-based Cox did not make the long trip north to Gosforth Park, but was in jubilant mood when contacted: “That was brilliant, Saffie has been in to ride him in his last couple of bits of work and it’s great when a plan comes together.

“He went to Dubai last year and ran a great race in the Group One there, but it’s tough at the top.

“We always live in hope, he loves the all-weather and he’s still pretty good, so today was a big target and to go all the way up to Newcastle and win a race like that is very satisfying.

“He’s won a Group Three now and we’ll place him accordingly.”

Osborne added: “Clive was really positive about his chances. I started going to Clive’s a couple of months ago, I rode this horse for the last couple of weeks and he’s a seriously classy horse.

“He’s a horse that was third in a Group One, he jumped out of the stalls today and Clive was keen for me not to wrestle him, so I was quite happy to let him slide on.

“I was able to get a breather into him and I always felt I was holding on to enough. He’s seriously tough and as soon as he felt the other horse coming to his girth he was always pulling out a bit more.”

Kind Of Blue on retrieval mission in Chipchase

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After missing Royal Ascot, Kind Of Blue attempts to regain the winning thread at Newcastle on Saturday in the JenningsBet Chipchase Stakes.

James Fanshawe’s star speedster claimed Group One honours at Ascot last October and was being teed-up for a return to the Berkshire track for the Royal meeting.

However, after his belated reappearance at Chantilly in the Prix du Gros-Chene went wrong leaving the stalls and with owners Wathnan Racing having a crack team for the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, the decision was taken to take stock and divert to the slightly calmer waters of this Group Three event.

Wathnan’s racing adviser Richard Brown said: “The plan was to obviously give him the prep race in France and it all just went wrong and he was left standing in the stalls for a very long time, then the horse next to him reared causing him to rear just as they were about to let them go and we missed the break by a very long way.

“We decided to miss Ascot because we wanted to get him back on track before building back up, so we dodged Ascot and obviously we had Lazzat and Flora Of Bermuda for that race (first and third).

“We left Ascot behind in favour of coming here to hopefully give him a chance to start his season properly and we’re looking forward to seeing him run.”

Kind Of Blue’s display at Gosforth Park could determine how the rest of his season maps out, with connections keen to see the same dash of quality that made the son of Blue Point a must have purchase for the Emir of Qatar’s team last autumn.

“I think the July Cup will come too soon, but we will see how this goes before making any firm plans,” continued Brown, when assessing future options.

“At the moment we want to see Kind Of Blue show us he’s as good as he was on Champions Day last year. All the signs are positive and he’s been working very well but he’s got to go and show it on the racecourse.

“We’ll watch him run and make a plan after that.”

However, Kind Of Blue will not get things all his own way with Jack Channon’s progressive Ferrous now stepping into Group company in the form of his life after racking up an early season hat-trick.

“He’s in great form, obviously after his last win we had the Chipchase on our minds so we’ve freshened him right up,” said Channon, whose five-year-old was a winner over course and distance in May.

“He’s had time out in the paddock and has been training really well the last few weeks. He went for a racecourse gallop last week, it went really well so we are all set for Saturday.”

Others with winning form at Newcastle in the race include Clive Cox’s Diligent Harry and Mick Appleby’s Annaf, while Owen Burrows’ Alyanaabi was second to City Of Troy as a juvenile and now scratches the itch of connections to try six furlongs sporting first-time blinkers.

“It’s a stiff six at Newcastle and Jim (Crowley) has always intimated he wouldn’t mind trying that” said Burrows.

“We’re going first-time blinkers as well, so we thought this might be the perfect time to give it a go.

“He was obviously disappointing at Haydock last time and Jim felt he perhaps wasn’t putting 100 per cent in hence the blinkers. But he’s been fine since and goes there in good shape.”