Tag Archive for: Night Raider

Angel set for second chance at Classic glory in Ireland or France

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Fallen Angel is likely to get another stab at Classic glory in either Ireland or France after failing to run up to expectations in the Qipco 1000 Guineas.

Winner of three of her four juvenile starts, including a Group One victory in the Moyglare Stud Stakes, the daughter of Too Darn Hot was sent off favourite to provide trainer Karl Burke with a first Classic success on home soil at Newmarket on Sunday.

Fallen Angel travelled well for a long way over the Rowley Mile, but flattened out in the latter stages to finish eighth of 16 runners, albeit beaten less than five lengths by surprise winner Elmalka.

Burke said: “Obviously we were disappointed, but I don’t think there was a lot more we could have done in her prep. She looked fantastic in the paddock beforehand and she was fit – she didn’t have much of a blow on her afterwards.

Karl Burke trains Fallen Angel
Karl Burke trains Fallen Angel (Mike Egerton/PA)

“The immediate reaction is she probably wants a little bit further now and she switched leads a few times coming down the dip. Danny (Tudhope) thought with the ground drying out that track wasn’t her track, but they were all excuses and the bottom line is we didn’t run fast enough on the day.”

The Spigot Lodge handler is keen to let the dust settle before firming up the next plan of attack, but is minded to either head back to the Curragh for the Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas or cross the Channel for the Prix De Diane – a race he won with star filly Laurens six years ago.

“Where we go, the immediate reaction was that if the ground is right we could go back to the Curragh, or, and I haven’t discussed it with Steve (Parkin, owner) yet, we could possibly go for the Prix de Diane instead,” he added.

“She’ll have an easy-ish week this week, we’ll pick up her next week and make some serious decisions then really.”

Night Raider following his racecourse gallop at Newmarket
Night Raider following his racecourse gallop at Newmarket (Adam Morgan/PA)

In the previous afternoon’s Qipco 2000 Guineas, Burke saddled a potential dark horse in Night Raider, who had been hugely impressive in winning his first two starts on the all-weather at Southwell.

Following a pleasing racecourse gallop at Newmarket’s Craven meeting, optimism was high despite a major step up in class on his turf debut, but he trailed home 10th of 11th runners, leaving Burke considering a drop in distance on his next start.

He said: “Everything went wrong for him, he had his mouth open and got very unsettled in the stalls and banged a hind leg. He just got very worked up and jumped out of the stalls, and ran like a scalded cat for three furlongs and that was it.

“We can put a line through that, but that said whether he’s going to stay a mile is looking doubtful if that’s his attitude, in that class anyway.

“I thought he’d definitely stay a mile, but we’ll probably be looking to drop him back in trip now and it’s a possibility that we could run in the Sandy Lane at Haydock at the end of the month and that will tell us whether we’re a Commonwealth Cup horse over six furlongs or a Jersey horse over seven.

“He’s still a lovely horse and we knew he was very much a horse for the future. He’s a big-framed horse with a bit of growing and strengthening to do, so we’ll just sit on him for a couple of weeks and not make any rushed decisions, but they’re the options I think.”



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City Of Troy tops 14 contenders for 2000 Guineas gold

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City Of Troy will face a maximum of 13 rivals when he puts his unbeaten record and huge reputation on the line in the Qipco 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday.

The Justify colt carried all before him as a juvenile, with debut success at the Curragh followed by successive Newmarket wins in the the Superlative and the Dewhurst Stakes, with trainer Aidan O’Brien stating after the latter success: “He is the best two-year-old we’ve trained, there’s no doubt.”

City Of Troy will be prohibitive odds to provide the master of Ballydoyle with an 11th victory in the first colts’ Classic of the season on Saturday, but will find several talented rivals lying in wait.

The clear-second favourite is the Richard Hannon-trained Rosallion, not seen since landing the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at ParisLongchamp in October, while Clive Cox’s Royal Lodge hero Ghostwriter is another who brings high-class course and distance form to the table.

One of the most intriguing runners is undoubtedly Night Raider, who has twice dominated his rivals on the all-weather at Southwell and trainer Karl Burke is in no doubt he possesses the required ability to make the huge step up to the top level this weekend.

He said: “He’s a lovely animal and whatever he does on Saturday, he’s going to keep improving through the year. He’s got a lot of scope, he’s a high-class animal and I’m sure he’s a Group One horse in the making.

“Whether Saturday comes a bit too soon for him, and obviously it’s a high-class race as well, we’ll have to wait and see, but he’s a horse with a lot of potential and a lot of ability – I don’t think I’ve seen a horse work better up the Polytrack in Middleham in the 23 years since we’ve been here.

“He’s just got an awfully high cruising speed and he can quicken off it as well. Clifford Lee rode him for the first time in a long time this morning and he said it’s like driving a car with 10 gears – every time you time you move on him he goes forward.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing him run, there’s no real pressure with him. There’s a few horses with bigger reputations than him going into it and hopefully we can burst a few balloons.”

Night Raider following his racecourse gallop at Newmarket
Night Raider following his racecourse gallop at Newmarket (Adam Morgan/PA)

While Burke insists he has the “utmost respect” for the opposition, the Spigot Lodge handler is certainly not running scared.

He added: “Rosallion put up a fantastic performance in France, the negative for him is the rain that’s about this week – Richard has stated that he doesn’t want soft ground for the horse and I don’t think it will be any better than proper good ground. He’s obviously a high-class horse and I know his owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid (owner) is very excited by him.

“When Night Raider won first time up at Southwell, there was a lot of talk about it being the eighth best debut of the year, so I went back and watched the other seven debuts, including City Of Troy’s, and he got four or five good smacks on the backside to go and win his maiden.

“How much improvement is there, I don’t know. He’s obviously won very impressively, but he’s been asked to go and do his job.

“Our fellow possesses a lot of speed and I hope we’re drawn near City Of Troy so we can sit and follow him through the race.”

Another unknown quantity is Charlie Appleby’s Notable Speech, who has not been seriously troubled in three starts so far on the all-weather at Kempton.

Other likely contenders include Dewhurst runner-up Alyanaabi, trained by Owen Burrows, Ralph Beckett’s Middle Park second Task Force and Hannon’s Craven winner Haatem.

O’Brien has also left in Henry Longfellow and River Tiber alongside City Of Troy, although the former is widely expected to wait for the French 2000 Guineas the following weekend.



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Fallen Angel looks divine in Newmarket gallop

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Karl Burke’s leading Qipco 1000 Guineas hope Fallen Angel was one of a host of classy three-year-olds in action on the Rowley Mile before racing at Newmarket on Wednesday.

The Moyglare Stud Stakes winner is amongst the market leaders for the first Classic of the season and Burke was very happy with what he saw.

“I was very happy with her and Danny (Tudhope) was delighted,” said Burke.

“We’ve got two and a half weeks (before the 1000 Guineas) and she has time for at least one more good piece of work at home. This was always the plan and she needed the gallop for fitness, whereas Night Raider, we brought him here for experience.

Fallen Angel was a Group One winner at the Curragh
Fallen Angel was a Group One winner at the Curragh (Damien Eagers/PA)

“After watching that and what we saw last year, I think she has a good chance of staying at least a mile and a quarter. She is in the Oaks but we don’t need to worry about that just yet and we will concentrate on the Guineas for now.

“She’s a very good Group One winner at two, with not too many miles on the clock – and she’s unlucky not to be unbeaten.

“She’s a filly who saves her best for when she is really asked and as you saw in the Moyglare last year, she looked beat and then was doing her best work crossing the line. I think that will be the same in the Guineas.”

Advertising the strength in depth at his yard, Burke also galloped a live 2000 Guineas contender in the unbeaten Night Raider, two from two on the all-weather to date.

The son of Dark Angel galloped with the 113-rated Flight Plan, coming through the exercise with ease.

“We’ve run a few in the Guineas, Lord Shanakill was the first one I think and Flight Plan ran in it with Holloway Boy last year, but we’re going there with two live chances this year, I think,” said Burke.

“The filly is obviously the stronger chance, whereas the colt is a very good horse, but inexperience could count against him. He’s a lovely horse going forward and physically and mentally he will improve through the year.

“He will have learned loads today and that was his first proper gallop on grass. It will be interesting to see how Flight Plan runs next week (at Sandown) – and if he runs well, it might boost our confidence a bit.

“It’s a fantastic position to be in and we’re very fortunate we have the horses we’ve got at the moment. We’ve got some crackers and all the balloons are full at the moment.”

Also in action was the Owen Burrows-trained Alyanaabi, last seen finishing second behind 2000 Guineas favourite City Of Troy in the Dewhurst. He finished upsides an older stablemate.

Burrows said: “Jim (Crowley) said he settled well, which was good because he can be a little keen at home.

“Mentally, it will do him the world of good and hopefully he can step forward from it in two and a half weeks.

“Originally, I didn’t think I needed to bring him up here, but we were quite keen to get him on some nice ground and there’s not a lot of that around at the moment.

“Physically, he has done well and we have a bit to find (with City Of Troy), so we will just have to see. I’m happy physically with how he has done, so we will see, time will tell.”

Charlie Hills’ Champagne Stakes winner Iberian was another in action.

“He’s got huge form and his work on fast ground is completely different to that on soft at home and he’s never really had the chance to show his full potential last year,” said Hills.

“Every time he ran, it was soft ground and at Goodwood in his second race, he probably should have won that race, just the track and inexperience and the ground was soft there as well.

“The Champagne was soft as well and he’s gone and beat two Group One winners in that.

“The way he is bred, he should certainly get the mile but you just have to be careful with who he works with in the morning, as he just destroys them in two or three strides, he has so much natural speed.

“He just cantered the first furlong and I just wanted Tom (Marquand) to get a nice rhythm into him, he could be pretty special.”



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Night Raider looks the part in preparation for Classic tilt

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Night Raider enhanced his Classic credentials with a bloodless victory on the Tapeta at Southwell.

An impressive nine-length winner over the track and trip on debut in December, Karl Burke’s colt was sent off the 1-4 favourite for his second start, with connections eyeing a shot at the Qipco 2000 Guineas.

Sent immediately to the front by Daniel Tudhope, he had most of the seven-strong field covered rounding the turn for home and once shaken up with two furlongs to go scorched to a most impressive success, with Charlie Hills’ 93-rated Cogitate five-lengths adrift in second.

With 2000 Guineas odds ranging between 20-1 and 33s prior to his run in the Boost Your Acca At BetMGM Novice Stakes, the son of Dark Angel was trimmed into 14-1 by Paddy Power and Coral post-race, with Sky Bet even shorter at 10-1. The Aidan O’Brien-trained City Of Troy is the red-hot favourite.

He will now have one final tune-up for his Newmarket objective on May 4, with the Spigot Lodge handler nominating a trip to the Rowley Mile next month for either a conditions event or a racecourse gallop to bank some further experience.

“He’s a horse of huge potential, we know that and he’s not fully wound up by any stretch of the imagination,” Burke told Sky Sports Racing.

“His weight was identical to first time out and all of ours improve for their first time out. Nadir who leads him up said he has taken more of a blow tonight than he did the first time. He was a second and a half faster this time and I don’t know if that is down to ability or the track riding faster.

“I don’t think I would take 8-1 (about the Guineas), but the 40-1 I had a couple of months ago is a bit better! Lets hope he is an 8-1 shot and he’s obviously a very good horse and his future is in front of him. The Guineas isn’t the be all and end all for him and he’s a horse with a big future.”

On a further outing before the Guineas, he added: “He may have been on grass at the beginning of his two-year-old career, but he certainly wouldn’t have been on grass in the last 10 months or so.

“The idea was to go to the Guineas with a racecourse gallop at the Craven meeting – I don’t want to go a mile or go for the Craven itself and if we went for the seven-furlong race at Newbury (Greenham), that only gives us two weeks before the Guineas – or there is a seven-furlong conditions race for horses that haven’t run more than twice, and I have to speak to connections, but if we do go anywhere, I would be pointing that way.

“Danny just said there he could do with another run. He’s still green in front and was lugging away up the straight. Another run is probably the right way to go.

“Laurens was pretty good in her first two runs, but he’s a lovely horse with a great temperament and there’s a lot of scope there, so we’ve just got to look after him, do the right thing by him and hopefully he reaches his full potential.”

Fallen Angel was a big race winner at the Curragh
Fallen Angel was a big race winner at the Curragh (Damien Eagers/PA)

Burke also provided an update on fellow Clipper Logistics-owned three-year-old Fallen Angel, with the daughter of Too Darn Hot disputing favouritism in places for the Qipco 1000 Guineas.

Off the track since landing the Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh, she is poised for a racecourse gallop before the opening fillies Classic of the campaign.

“There’s another six weeks to get a horse there and that is a long time in a racehorse’s life,” added Burke.

“She’s in great heart at the moment and great form and we’re probably ahead of schedule of where we need to be.

“The plan is probably to go to the Craven meeting for a racecourse gallop and that will hopefully tee her up for the Guineas.

“I was quite keen to go for the Fillies’ Mile, Steve Parkin her owner was the opposite and put her away, and as it turned out the very heavy ground the Fillies’ Mile was run in would not have been ideal so it was the right decision to put her away.

“She had a good rest, went back to Brampton Court and come back looking fantastic. She’s filled her frame, she was always a big filly, but she has filmed her frame nicely. She’s very strong and she’s in great shape.”

Burke also said he was feeling “fit and well” after completing a course of chemotherapy.

He explained: “Chemo finished on December 16 and that wasn’t much fun, as anyone who has been through it knows.

“Since then every week has felt better. We had a good holiday, went away and I’m feeling fit and fell, all good.”



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Burke expecting Night Raider to be even better next year

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Karl Burke expects stunning debut winner Night Raider to return with even more to offer as a three-year-old.

The Clipper Logistics-owned youngster is by Dark Angel and out of a Shamardal mare called Dorrarr, already the dam of two winners in Dubai Dawn and Group Three scorer Far Above, who now stands at Starfield Stud.

Making his debut in a 10-runner novice run over seven furlongs on Southwell’s all-weather track on Tuesday night, the colt was ridden by Danny Tudhope to travel smartly near the front of the field before cantering to an easy nine-length victory when barely pressed.

The triumph could have been by an even wider margin had he been pushed and came ahead of well-bred horses such as Roger Varian’s Midnight’s Dream, half-brother to Group winner White Lavender, and John and Thady Gosden’s Danielle, a Cracksman filly out of Crimson Ribbon whose half-siblings include Gold Cup winner Courage Mon Ami and stakes scorers Lion’s Pride, Crimson Rosette, Purple Ribbon and Astronomos.

Sectional timing data shows Night Raider to have run a notably quick final two furlongs while still on the bridle, a heartening statistic for a horse Burke hopes will only come back stronger next year.

“It was a very impressive debut, he’s a beautiful horse and a horse we’ve always thought an awful lot of,” he said.

“He got a slight niggle early in the summer which meant we had to back off him, but he’s very much a horse that’s going to improve from two to three as he’s a big horse.

“He’s been working nicely, but he’s not we’ve really drilled at home, there’s plenty of improvement in him.

“Visually it was a stunning performance and the time and ratings back that up as well, but there’s still plenty in the tank for him to improve from two to three.

“I believe he did an 11-second last furlong on the bridle, which is unheard of really.

“He was there just for the education and he won’t run again now until the spring, we’ll find a race for him then.”



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