Tag Archive for: Space Legend

Leovanni set for Cheveley Park Stakes after gallant Lowther effort

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Royal Ascot heroine Leovanni will bid to regain the winning thread in Newmarket’s Cheveley Park Stakes next month after tasting defeat for the first time at York.

An impressive winner on debut at Nottingham, Karl Burke’s youngster marched on to the Royal meeting where she dazzled in the Queen Mary Stakes, showing plenty of speed to win in commanding fashion.

Upped to six furlongs for the Lowther Stakes at York, she was still in the discussion approaching the finishing line but was unable to pass Ed Walker’s Celandine as she finished an honourable third.

However, connections are taking plenty of positives from Leovanni’s Knavesmire appearance, with the daughter of Kodi Bear now poised to move into Group One company on the Rowley Mile on September 28.

“She’s bounced out of the race well and we’re delighted,” said Richard Brown, European racing adviser for owners Wathnan Racing.

“She definitely got home over the six furlongs and I thought she ran very well under a penalty.

“She relaxed nicely which was good to see and she will come to Newmarket for the Cheveley Park all being well.”

It was mixed fortunes for the Wathnan string during the Ebor weekend as the peacock blue and old gold silks failed to appear in the winner’s enclosure despite some fine efforts from the squad in defeat.

The likes of Gregory and exciting juveniles Artagnan and Realign joined Leovanni in making the podium in Yorkshire, but there was the odd disappointment along the way – especially Hamad Al-Jehani’s high-profile recruit The Strikin Viking who failed to figure in the Gimcrack Stakes last Friday.

“Most of them ran really well and we’ve had plenty of luck this year so we were probably due a week where things didn’t quite go our way,” continued Brown.

“The Strikin Viking was very disappointing and too free – he was out on a wing and we need to get cover with him.

“We will give him a break now and probably bring him back for one target at the back-end. He’s a big horse so I think he has scope for next year.”

Also on the Wathnan York team was William Haggas’ King Edward VII Stakes runner-up Space Legend who was not disgraced in the Great Voltigeur and could now be put away for a four-year-old campaign.

Brown added: “He’s a big horse and he’s only going to get better over the winter and we’ll see what we think.

“I wouldn’t completely dismiss the option of putting him away for next year as I really think he is a horse for next year.

“He has plenty of speed and I don’t think being out of a Dark Angel mare he will get an extreme trip, so we will see. We’ve made no firm decisions with him yet.”



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Lead Artist aiming to take starring role at Newmarket

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Impressive York scorer Lead Artist will bid to give owners Juddmonte back-to-back victories in the Edmondson Hall Solicitors Sir Henry Cecil Stakes at Newmarket on Thursday.

Trained by John and Thady Gosden – who won this race with Mighty Ulysses the last time it was staged in 2022 – the son of Dubawi was narrowly denied in the Wood Ditton on debut before shedding his maiden status in real style on the Knavesmire.

He now makes the jump up to Listed level, where he could tee-up a step into even classier company if thriving in a race named after the man who enjoyed many great days training for the owners.

“He’s going to run on Thursday and he’s in good shape,” said Barry Mahon, Juddmonte’s European racing manager.

“We obviously bypassed Royal Ascot, which was hopefully the wise thing to do, and he’ll go there in good shape and he’s one that we’re looking forward to.

“It’s been a high-class race in the last couple of years to be fair and it’s a nice stepping-stone into those nice races in the second half of the season – races like the Sussex and the Marois.

“We’re hoping that Lead Artist can jump into that sort of level.”

A field of six will head to post for the one-mile event, with Charlie Hills’ unbeaten Socialite another chancing his arm at this level having impressed in calmer waters, while Oisin Murphy will once again partner the Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr-trained Kitty Rose after her fifth in the Sandringham Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Al Musmak drops back to a mile at Newmarket
Al Musmak drops back to a mile at Newmarket (Tim Goode/PA)

Richard Fahey’s Native American and Charlie Appleby’s Bold Style will both be making the move up to a mile for this event, while Roger Varian’s Al Musmak was a winner over this trip last season before placing in the Royal Lodge and is one who now drops back in distance.

There may be only four in the opening Bahrain Trophy Stakes, but there looks to be a quality quartet engaged as connections seek to continue Space Legend’s education.

A part of Wathnan Racing’s pre-Ascot spending spree, the son of Sea The Stars had no answer for the impressive Calandagan in the King Edward VII Stakes, but has been pleasing trainer William Haggas since and now gets the chance to tackle an extra furlong.

“The slight step up in trip won’t harm him and I think this horse is going to stay,” said Wathnan’s racing adviser Richard Brown.

Space Legend (left) bumped into Calandagan at Royal Ascot
Space Legend (left) bumped into Calandagan at Royal Ascot (John Walton/PA)

“He ran a tremendous race at Ascot and just bumped into one, Calandagan looked a bit of a freak that day.

“He has come out of Ascot well and we were pondering whether to wait for Goodwood, but William has said he is fit, well and healthy and I think he is still a big baby who will get better with racing, so he is going to go and take his chance.

“Charlie Appleby runs Ancient Wisdom and he deserves a huge amount of respect, as does the rest of the opposition, it looks a tight little race.”

Andrew Balding’s Royal Supremacy was a place behind Space Legend in third at the Royal meeting, while it is Ancient Wisdom who heads the bookmakers’ lists for the Moulton Paddocks team.

Ancient Wisdom securing Group One honours at Doncaster last season
Ancient Wisdom securing Group One honours at Doncaster last season (Richard Sellers/PA)

A Group One winner at two, he was second to heralded Dante winner Economics at York on his return to action before finishing in mid-division in the Derby.

Ancient Wisdom has not been seen since Epsom, but now bids to give his handler a third Bahrain Trophy win in four years.

“They’ve had rain at Newmarket, although it looks as though the ground will be good to soft or probably nearer genuine good ground,” Appleby told www.godolphin.com.

“We feel that the step up in trip is going to be the most important thing for Ancient Wisdom and he goes there in good order.”

Aidan O’Brien will saddle Portland
Aidan O’Brien will saddle Portland (Damien Eagers/PA)

Aidan O’Brien’s Portland completes the line-up seeking to become his handler’s first winner of this race since Housesofparliament in 2016.

His jockey Ryan Moore told Betfair: “Ancient Wisdom looks the one to beat on his juvenile form, and then the others in here look pretty evenly matched, with King Edward VII runner-up Space Legend the up-and-comer of those.

“A winner over a mile and a half previously, Portland definitely shaped like a greater test of stamina would suit in the Hampton Court over 10 furlongs last time and he gets that here.”



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Space Legend ready to make Ascot impact

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Space Legend bids to provide owners Wathnan Racing with an immediate return on their investment in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot on Friday.

Runner-up on his sole juvenile appearance at Chelmsford in December, the son of Sea The Stars went one better in some style on his reappearance at Leicester before finishing a luckless second to Meydaan in the Cocked Hat Stakes at Goodwood last month.

Space Legend would almost certainly have won that Listed prize had he not been denied a clear run when being produced with his challenge by Tom Marquand, prompting Wathnan’s racing adviser Richard Brown to recommend that the Qatari-based operation added the promising William Haggas-trained colt to their increasingly powerful squad.

“It was one of those things that happens in Goodwood and a furlong out he was last and had to come round them,” he said.

“I was very impressed by the way he made up his ground in that last furlong and he galloped out very strongly. He was definitely an unlucky loser and is a fine, big horse.

“Hopefully he can run a big race for us at Ascot, but is hopefully also a horse with a very big future. James (Doyle) has ridden him work and liked him very much.”

Space Legend is taken on by a quartet of Aidan O’Brien-trained runners in Agenda, Diego Velazquez, Chief Little Rock and The Euphrates, with Ryan Moore siding with Diego Velazquez, who was most recently seen finishing eighth in the French Derby, having been fourth before that in the French 2000 Guineas.

Diego Velazquez and Ryan Moore at Leopardstown
Diego Velazquez and Ryan Moore at Leopardstown (Damien Eagers/PA)

“We have four in here and there is little between all of them, with perhaps Chief Little Rock and Diego Velazquez having the best form credentials as it stands,” the jockey told Betfair.

“Chief Little Rock was very good from the front over a mile and a quarter at the Curragh last time, and he steps up in trip along with my mount Diego Velazquez, who was possibly a bit below par in the French Derby last time after finishing an excellent fourth in their Guineas.

“Things didn’t go his way there (in the French Derby), and hopefully he can show his true worth here. It’s obviously a very open race and Agenda put up a big performance at Chester last time, so I wouldn’t ignore his claims. ”

Francis-Henri Graffard’s French raider Calandagan, a dual Group Three in his homeland this spring, and John and Thady Gosden’s unbeaten dual winner Theory Of Tides also feature.

Graffard said: “He is a nice horse, he has won two Group Threes and the plan has always been to take him to Ascot for this race.

“A mile and a half won’t be a problem for him. He has a nice wide draw and we will see where we stand against this quality. He is not ground dependent.”

O’Brien fires a twin assault at the Group Three Albany Stakes, with Naas Group Three winner Fairy Godmother joined by stablemate Heavens Gate, who impressed on her second start at the Curragh.

Moore, who rides the former, said: “After being beaten on her debut, Fairy Godmother reversed the form with the winner Sparkling Sea in a Group Three at Naas last time, and did so nicely after meeting trouble in running.

“Again, we are dealing with unexposed two-year-olds here but I’d like to think she is the one to beat after the way she did it last time, though you have to respect Mountain Breeze. We also have Heavens Gate in here, who we considered running in the Queen Mary on Wednesday. She is not out of this.”

Mountain Breeze looks a major contender for Charlie Appleby and William Buick after impressing twice at Newmarket in May.

“She’s a half-sister to Pinatubo and was more impressive I felt on her second start when she stepped up to six furlongs and she goes there as a live player,” said Appleby.

“It’s billed to be a competitive race, as it always is, but she’s a filly that we’ve been very pleased with since the spring and she’s not disappointed us to date.”



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Haggas-trained Space Legend joins Wathnan Racing team for Ascot

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Wathnan Racing have acquired leading King Edward VII Stakes contender Space Legend ahead of Royal Ascot.

The peacock blue and gold colours of the Emir of Qatar’s racing operation will be prominent next week, after a number of eyecatching purchases that compliment the likes of Gregory, who won the Queen’s Vase 12 months ago and this year goes for the Gold Cup in the absence of his Wathnan-owned stablemate Courage Mon Ami.

A son of Sea The Stars, the William Haggas-trained Space Legend was an easy Leicester maiden winner on his reappearance this season, before enduring a luckless passage when a neck second in the Cocked Hat at Goodwood.

As well as his Royal meeting engagement, the lightly-raced colt also holds an entry in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Richard Brown, racing adviser to Wathnan Racing, said: “Space Legend is a lovely progressive type, typical of the best by his sire. We’re really looking forward to seeing how he develops in the months and seasons ahead.”



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