Tag Archive for: Glorious Goodwood

Monday Musings: Mick’s the Man

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The Appleby “brothers” were at it at Goodwood last week, with Charlie first to the fore, winning the Sussex Stakes with the revived 2000 Guineas winner Notable Speech and  the Group 2 Vintage Stakes with improving juvenile Aomori City, writes Tony Stafford.

You can always identify a Charlie Appleby runner, the Royal blue silks only ever modified by different-coloured caps when there are multiple entries. At Goodwood he ran only four horses over the five days, when hot sunshine and the avoidance of any of the promised thunderstorms [I found one on Thursday going home around the almost-flooded southern portion of the M25] were the theme of the meeting.

Charlie has one owner, Godolphin, and, according to Horses in Training 2024, 233 horses to pick from. The same publication at the time of the snapshot before the season started listed 102 for Michael Appleby, a journeyman who made his way out of the Andrew Balding stable into his own business around 20 years ago. At the end of last week, it was Mick, rather than Charlie, or indeed Aidan O’Brien, that was declared Champion Trainer at the meeting.

That 102, bolstered since by additional juveniles, is the result of hard graft, ever-improving results and continually punching above his weight. Local businesses, clubs and syndicates with shrewdies like the Dixon brothers through their Horse Watchers horses [and geegeez.co.uk! - Ed.], have hastened the upward trajectory. The weaving together of these strands has provided the cocktail of horses that benefit from the “Mick” treatment, with sprinters the foundation of it all. And, of course, he isn’t Charlie’s brother!

If ever there was a moment to evidence the culmination and flowering of the effort of those two decades, it was Big Evs’ winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Santa Anita last autumn in a battle of three Europeans. He and Tom Marquand held off runners from the Adrian Murray and Ralph Beckett yards.

That was a fourth win in six starts, Big Evs having collected previously the Flying Childers at Doncaster, after sinking in the Nunthorpe at York the previous month.

One obvious observation in the aftermath of his finishing 14th of 16 against the top older sprinters is just how insensitive and crass it was of the stewards at the meeting to ask Appleby for an explanation for his “poor performance”. He’s a two-year-old for pity’s sake! Do you know nothing about horses?

Back home and with the US win on his scabbard, Big Evs made a winning return in a Listed race at the York May meeting. Royal Ascot the following month was a lottery for the most part in the week’s sprints so while ‘only’ 3rd to the Australian speedster Asfoora in the Group 1 King Charles III Stakes, he ‘won’ his race on the unfavoured far side.

The ultra-valuable King George Stakes last week was his first run since Ascot, and it gave him the chance to avenge the defeat. He duly gained that revenge - though only by a short-head - as the Australian mare was hunting him down in the final yards.

Big Evs was the sixth Mick Appleby runner at Goodwood last week and the fourth winner. The only two losers at that point were Billyjoh, second in a seven-furlong handicap – the longest trip any of the team attempted all week – and Mr Lightside in the Molecomb Stakes.

Mr Lightside went into that race as the better fancied (11/1) of the stable duo, but 25/1 shot Big Mojo, having dwelt at the start and raced in rear early, had the pace to come through and win under Silvestre de Sousa. Mr Lightside was a close third and will have plenty of wins to come given that sharp speed he showed.

Going into the Molecomb as a maiden – Big Mojo had, like Big Evs prior to his Listed Windsor Castle win at Royal Ascot last year, been runner-up on debut at one of the Yorkshire tracks, Beverley in his case – he was an expensive buy for the yard, and owners Paul and Rachael Teasdale, at his 175,000gns yearling price. Bought from Derek Veitch of Ringfort Stud, he clearly holds a high place in Appleby’s estimation. “He could be as good as Big Evs,” he said. Praise indeed.

Handicappers Kitai over seven furlongs and Shagraan, at the minimum trip, completed the winners’ roll for the stable, but there was still to be one last hurrah, planned for the earlier second finisher Billyjoh.

If Appleby could have moaned about the draw for Big Evs at Ascot, he would have been entitled to have regretted the one that got away after the also very well-endowed Stewards’ Cup on Saturday. Twenty-five of the 28 declared kept the engagement and Billyjoh, drawn four, led into the final furlong on his side of the race – they did edge across - finishing best of the 16 that kept up the middle.

Meanwhile George Baker’s six-year-old Get It had grabbed the near rail from the outset, leading clearly, and held on all the way, with major sprint handicap regular Apollo One getting closest for a staying-on half-length second.

Peter Charalambous earned a not insignificant £60k for his troubles with Apollo One but he must be despairing of the big win his wonderful servant at age six deserves. He couldn’t complain of the luck of the draw though – the first six came from 28, 27, 4 (Billyjoh), 24, 26 and 20! Peter pretty much is training just the single horse under the Charalambous/ Clutterbuck ticket, and the gelding is now up to £350k in earnings, 80% of it for places.

Get It was a notable local success for genial George Baker, once a wet-behind-the-ears writer for the long-defunct Sportsman newspaper, but ever the mine host over Goodwood’s entire week. He is entering a new phase of his career with a stable to be based in Bahrain over the coming winter.

I still remember pulling up at one of my 2009 trips down to the west of France, availing myself of the late Roger Hales’ driving skills. We were there at Le Lion d’Angers to watch the second of French Fifteen’s three consecutive wins down there and who should we bump into before racing but George, who had a runner in another race. Ever the ground breaker is George!

As usual, Ryan Moore’s skills were in evidence all week. Kyprios in the Goodwood Cup proved easy enough and was a testimony to Aidan O’Brien and the team’s skills to rehabilitate him from the severe injury problems of 2022 into 2023 to be the revived master stayer of his time.

Ryan had predicted he would be too good for what he described as horses that were “much of a muchness”, but in truth were decent 110-plus rated stayers all. Moore needed to be much closer to the peak of his powers though when completing a big-race double on Thursday aboard Jan Breughel in the Gordon Stakes and last year’s champion juvenile filly Opera Singer in the Nassau Stakes.

Each time it looked as if his nearest challenger might be about to pass him but Ryan seems to mesmerise his fellow jockeys in such situations. Opera Singer was the sixth winner of the Nassau Stakes – but only the fourth for Aidan O’Brien - for the Coolmore owners, starting in 2007 with the remarkable Peeping Fawn. Minding and Winter were the other two of Aidan’s within that 17-year period.

Like City Of Troy, her male counterpart as juvenile champion last year, Opera Singer is by Triple Crown hero Justify; and it seems the plan is to go for the Arc with this highly-talented filly. City Of Troy, of course, is pencilled in for the Juddmonte International at York this month.

Later, the juvenile newcomer Dreamy, by the Coolmore team’s other Triple Crown winning stallion American Pharoah, overcame greenness to win the fillies’ maiden under the same jockey to make it a Ballydoyle/Coolmore hat-trick, though each wearing different silks such are the extending tentacles of the co-ownership edges of the operation these days.

Eight years ago, the same maiden race was won by Rhododendron, but she had the benefit of a run in Ireland beforehand. A multiple Group 1 winner, she is, of course, the dam of Auguste Rodin. If Horses In Training is correct, Dreamy is the only American Pharoah two-year-old among the one hundred-plus juveniles at Ballydoyle. Someone knows how to pick which goes where!

Finally, as if three wins on the day for the team weren’t enough, Mrs Doreen Tabor had a winner in her colours that same afternoon at Nottingham, trained by Ralph Beckett!

- TS

Glorious Goodwood 2023: Day 3 Preview, Pointers, Tips

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To Thursday, the middle day of five on the Sussex Downs, and another octet of head-scratchers over which to ruminate. The feature is a ten furlong fillies' Group 1, the Nassau Stakes, and a belter it looks, too. We start, though, at 1.50 with the...

1.50 Kincsem Handicap (1m2f, Class 2, 3yo)

Mark Johnston won this race just the eight times (!) since 1998, while John Gosden has four scores in the same timeframe. Both have their sons on the license now and both teams have multiple representatives this year, two for John and Thady, and three for Charlie. 23 of 25 winners since since 1998 were returned 12/1 or shorter.

A couple to consider, then, are the 1-2 from a Newmarket July meeting handicap, Killybegs Warrior and Obelix. The latter is two pounds better off for a 3/4 length beating, and he travelled like the best horse before flattening out up the hill. On this slightly easier track, he might be able to reverse the form. Both have shown a good level on softish turf.

Dylan Cunha was a top tier trainer in his native South Africa and is quietly establishing himself in Newmarket. He saddles Silver Sword, ridden by Cunha's countryman, Greg Cheyne. This fella refused to race on his first two starts - where three strikes means you're out - before showing his true colours in good maiden company. He has since stepped forward further in handicaps, waltzing away with a Ponty mile event last time. He's a danger; so too are many others!

2.25 Richmond Stakes (6f, Group 2, 2yo)

Aidan O'Brien has won this Group 2 twice, from nine runners, since 1997, so it's not a race he frequently targets. Clive Cox has a better record: two wins and a further place from five runners. APOB saddles Unquestionable, Cox Jasour, and that pair head the market. Jasour was impressive when scoring in the July Stakes, also a Group 2, last time and though the ground is likely to be quite different here he's clearly a very fast colt.

The once raced winners Vandeek and Sketch are 'could be anything' types, with no subsequent runners from their maiden scores to test the form at time of writing. The bubble looks to have burst with Asadna, who at one point had the clock watchers purring but hasn't yet backed up the mighty impression of his first day at school.

3.00 Gordon Stakes (1m4f, Group 3, 3yo)

Aidan has run seven horses in this established St Leger trial in the past ten years, winning twice and with all bar one of the septet making the frame. That makes Espionage an obvious favourite and of equally obvious interest. A head second in the Group 1 Criterion International at Saint Cloud last autumn, he's won his sole 2023 start, in the Listed Lenebane Stakes at Roscommon. Espionage was easy to back that day, perhaps hinting that there was plenty more to work with as the season progresses. If that's right, he's going to take a lot of beating.

His rivals include The King's Royal Ascot winner - Desert Hero - as well as the third from the Queen's Vase, Chesspiece, the third from the King Edward VII Stakes, Artistic Star, and the winner of the Golden Gates Handicap, Burdett Road. The other to line up, Canberra Legend, was fifth in the Hampton Court Stakes, meaning Espionage was the only one not to run at the Royal meeting. He could be a nice horse in the making and, with a fair bit of pace likely on despite the small field, there should be no hard luck stories.

3.35 Nassau Stakes (1m2f, Group 1, 3yo+ fillies & mares)

A Group 1 and a field befitting of the top level. Nashwa is a three-time G1 winner, including this race last year and the Falmouth Stakes over a mile last time, and she handles soft conditions well as she showed when second in the G1 Prix de l'Opera last October. In opposition is the best filly in France, Blue Rose Cen, a winner of her last five races. That quintet includes the Prix Marcel Boussac on Arc weekend, the French 1000 Guineas (Poule d'Essai des Pouliches) and the French Oaks (Prix de Diane), the latter being the third G1 on Nashwa's palmarès, achieved a year prior.

Blue Rose Cen tends to race handily whereas Nashwa is a little more versatile. In a race where there is no clear pace angle - though the doubly-represented Coolmore team may send Never Ending Story forward - the French filly may get first run on Nashwa.

Is there anything else in the field to lay it up to this tip top pair? Probably not, though Al Husn has been progressive at a lower level, winning six of her last seven starts. Indeed, her most recent verdict was over none other than Nashwa, on the Newcastle tapeta at Group 3 level. Nashwa went on to win that G1 Falmouth next time up and may have been prepping on the sand. Nevertheless, Al Husn does have one up on her more illustrious rival; so, too, does Above The Curve, who won the Group 2 Prix Corrida earlier this year. She had race fitness on her side there, and Nashwa is expected to be a different proposition now.

This looks a crackerjack of a match to watch but is less appetising from a betting perspective with the market looking about right on the top two and nothing else holding any appeal.

4.10 Jaeger-Lecoultre Nursery Handicap (7f, Class 2, 2yo)

Nursery handicaps are not my thing. This one has, in recent times, typically been won by a horse lugging nine stone-plus and emerging from a lowish - but not very low - stall. The 91-rated Balon d'Or will jump from box ten and is set to shoulder 9-09, ten pounds clear of his field on ratings, meaning everything else carries less than nine stone!

A pair on 8-13 and berthed in three and six respectively are Bits And Bobs and Mission To Moon. Jim and Fitri Hay got on the scoresheet on day one at their favourite meeting, and they have Phone Tag from stall seven, whose trainer, Hugo Palmer, does well with handicap debutants.

But, honestly, I don't know.

4.45 Buccellati Handicap (1m, Class 3, 3yo)

Another big field mile handicap where the percentage play is to side with inside drawn runners (though that was a disastrous ploy in the fillies' mile handicap on Tuesday). It is noteworthy how little advertised front end speed there is in this twenty horse herd which could make for even more hard luck stories than normal if they stack and pack up. There's a good chance that Joe Fanning goes on atop Charlie Johnston's Cancan In The Rain, and he might be able to control the tempo in a bid to make all.

 

 

Skysail was a course and distance winner in May on his first try at a mile. He returns having been second last time out in a similar race and, if not too far from the pace, could again go close. The favourite, Isle Of Jura, appears well drawn in four in his hat-trick bid: he's been geared down when winning the last twice and may be a cut above this lot. He's probably the bet, and 10/3 currently doesn't look unfair.

5.20 British EBF Maiden Fillies Stakes (7f, Class 2, 2yo)

Nope. Next.

5.55 World Pool Handicap (5f, Class 3, 3yo)

High draws dominated the straight track races on Tuesday (when I'm writing this), so the forward-going Democracy Dilemma could be a play from the stands rail position. Hollie Doyle is two from three on David Evans' speedster.

If they go too hard, perhaps the next highest-drawn, Desert Games, will take advantage. He's been consistent in defeat, and in fact I tried to buy him at last month's July Sales (he made too much dough, alas). Nibras Racing had more cash than me and he now runs for them and trainer Hilal Kobeissi. Victory here would get them a third of their investment back, and a fantastic afternoon in the sun (regardless of the weather) to boot.

Desperate Hero is a third high-drawn runner with chances: he all but won a valuable Racing League prize last week and comes here fit to fire from what looks an optimal draw and run style combination. Former geegeez-sponsored rider and friend of the site David Probert will steer.

No refunds if the low draws prevail!

Matt