Tag Archive for: Thady Gosden

Field Of Gold ‘in great order’ for Sussex Stakes test

/in /by

John Gosden is looking forward to seeing how Field Of Gold fares when faced with the unique demands of Goodwood in the Visit Qatar Sussex Stakes next week.

The brilliant Juddmonte-owned grey has had a superb campaign so far this year, winning the Irish 2,000 Guineas and the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Prior to those runs he has narrowly denied in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and was the winner of the Craven, a superb run of form that leads neatly into the Sussex and very much makes him the horse to beat.

“He’s been a grand horse to train, he’s done nothing but thrive this year,” said Gosden.

“We’ve been pleased with his progress all the way through.

“The Sussex is a different test of a horse. If you’ve ever walked the track, it’s quite a surprise, it runs down into a dip, swings up and around.

“You don’t want too big a field and a high draw because you are literally down the hill looking at the horses getting the shortest run round up the hill, so the draw is a big factor there if you get a large field.

“The horse is athletic, he’s got great balance, and hopefully he’ll handle the track well. It’s very different to the round mile of Ascot or the Curragh, that’s for sure.

“He’s in great order, and we’re looking forward to running him. It’s very much the obvious race to go to for him.”

Field Of Gold could be joined by Lockinge Stakes winner Lead Artist, who proved his suitability for Goodwood when taking the Bonhams Thoroughbred Stakes at this meeting last year and is also owned by the Juddmonte operation.

Gosden said: “He’s in great form, we’ll see if he runs, no decision on that yet.

“He bowled along there last year and won in good style. We’re not sure if they’ll both run at this stage, we’re a little far off from the race yet.”

Gosden, who trains alongside his son, Thady, will have plenty of other headline runners at the Goodwood fixture, with French Master and Sweet William both going for the Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup.

Successful in the Copper Horse Handicap at the Royal meeting, French Master will be up in trip and class, but Gosden said: “We’re hopeful he’ll run a good race. He did a little breeze with Sweet William, there wasn’t much between them, nicely on the bridle, looking after each other. Sweet William was a neck up, actually.”

Ombudsman aiming to put Eclipse rivals in the shade

/in /by

Ombudsman will try to stamp himself the outstanding colt of the season by following up his emphatic Royal Ascot success in an exceptional edition of the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown on Saturday.

John Gosden has won the Esher track’s summer highlight four times, but now training in conjunction with son Thady, he has a horse who showed in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes he is ready to add his name to the list of greats to race out of the family’s historic Clarehaven base.

“We always thought he had the potential to be a horse of this class, but you can only find that out on the day,” said Thady Gosden reflecting on his brilliant performance at the Royal meeting.

“He would have been an unlucky loser, he had a few traffic problems but then he showed that great turn of foot that (sire) Night Of Thunder seems to give them and he picked up well when he asked him.

Ombudsman was an impressive Ascot scorer
Ombudsman was an impressive Ascot scorer (David Davies/PA)

“The idea before Ascot was that if he ran well enough there, then we would come for this. When it went the way it did and he came out of it well, it was very much the plan. We always thought we would start him later in the season, give him a run before Ascot and go from there.

“He’s developed quite gradually and hopefully he’s got a bright future.”

Vadeni secured a first win for a French-trained horse since 1960 when scoring three years ago and Andre Fabre saddles his ultra-smart three-time Group One winner Sosie as he looks to add his name to the roll of honour.

Two of those top-level victories have come in his last two starts and the Prix Ganay and Prix d’Ispahan winner – who currently heads the betting for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe – adds a Gallic flavour to this stellar line-up.

Fabre said: “I don’t know if he has improved (this season), he has been running over a different distance and he’s a triple Group One winner.

“The horse hasn’t surprised me this year, he has just confirmed what I thought.

“He is meeting different opposition on Saturday and it is an interesting race, with two Classic winners and a good older horse of Godolphin’s – it’s a good race.

“The ground is not a concern, he doesn’t like the soft and enjoys that good ground.”

Andre Fabre is the master trainer
Andre Fabre is the master trainer (Adam Morgan/PA)

On what it would mean to add the Eclipse to his already glittering CV, the trainer added: “Any race I’m running in I’m happy to win it, whether it’s the Eclipse or a race in the country. It’s not a trainer’s race, it’s a horse race.”

It is no surprise to see Aidan O’Brien well-represented in this first major clash of the generations as the race’s most successful trainer bids for a record-extending ninth success with beaten Derby favourite Delacroix (Ryan Moore) and French Derby hero Camille Pissarro (Christophe Soumillon).

O’Brien said: “Both of them have been very good since their last runs and we felt in the Derby with Delacroix, he got knocked down at the top of the hill and ended up too far back and I’d say the trip was too far. That’s what we think.

“We didn’t know going for the French Derby if Camille Pissarro would get the trip, but he did get it. This is probably a little bit tougher track and a tougher race, but everything has gone well and he’s in good shape.”

Ruling Court after winning the 2000 Guineas
Ruling Court after winning the 2000 Guineas (Joe Giddens/PA)

Jessica Harrington’s Hotazhell is another of the Classic generation to make the trip from Ireland, while Charlie Appleby’s 2000 Guineas champion Ruling Court finally steps up in trip after defeat at Royal Ascot.

Charlie Appleby told wwww.godolphin.com: “The tempo of the St James’s Palace Stakes was completely different to what Ruling Court encountered in the 2000 Guineas. They went an end-to-end gallop and he never really looked comfortable throughout the race.

“We have always wanted to step him up in trip and a mile and a quarter is probably the ideal distance to aim for as a first try over middle distances. There is only one Derby, so we obviously had a look at the mile-and-a-half route before deciding not to run at Epsom due to the ground.

“Conditions at Sandown look there to suit. He has won around the course before and has a significant weight pull against the older horses, which can often come into play in an Eclipse. It’s a small but very strong field, and he’s a Classic-winning colt who doesn’t look out of place in the field.”

Buick expected to maintain Ombudsman partnership in the Eclipse

/in /by

William Buick is poised to maintain his partnership with Ombudsman in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown on Saturday, despite Charlie Appleby’s 2000 Guineas winner Ruling Court holding an entry.

Speaking on a media Zoom call, joint-trainer Thady Gosden confirmed Buick is set to take the ride on the four-year-old, who was a brilliant winner of the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot.

And confidence is high in the camp that he can follow up in the traditional first clash of the generations, albeit respectful of the fact the gap between the Royal meeting and the Eclipse is a relatively short one.

“We’ve had some nice horses from the yard run in it over the years. It’s a fantastic race and it’s a big thanks to Coral for 50 years of sponsorship, it’s pretty amazing,” said Gosden, who trains alongside his father, John, a four-time Eclipse winner.

“Obviously it is a very tight turnaround, we’d rather have given him longer, especially when they are running in solid Group One races. But he’s in very good order, he’d only had the one run before Ascot at Sandown in the Brigadier Gerard when he was second to Almaqam.

“He hasn’t had a hard season, he hasn’t had a hard career so far really, so we thought why not get him ready for this.

“The Prince of Wales’s was a very tough race against plenty of hard-knocking Group One horses and he was still relatively inexperienced, it was his first run in a Group One.”

The turn of foot on display at Ascot means Ombudsman has been all the rage for this, so much so that any thoughts to run his stablemate Field Of Gold in the race were immediately shelved after he was also successful at Ascot, in his case over a mile in the St James’s Palace Stakes.

Ombudsman's win was John Gosden's 70th at Royal Ascot
Ombudsman’s win was John Gosden’s 70th at Royal Ascot (David Davies/PA)

“They both ran huge races at Ascot,” said Gosden.

“Field Of Gold was particularly impressive, just the natural speed he has, and the raw speed he showed there, why rush into a mile and a quarter when you know he’s got the class over a mile that he’s shown.

“It’s the first meeting of the generations. The three-year-olds look very good, you’ve got a French Derby winner in there (Camille Pissarro), some serious three-year-olds.

“We’ve got Field Of Gold among that generation, but obviously they’ve been running over different trips, his form does tie in with Ruling Court. They look a very solid bunch.

“Of course you’ve got Sosie who is probably the best 10/12-furlong horse in France coming over as well. We finished second to him in the Prix d’Ispahan with Sardinian Warrior and he won the Ganay the time before that.

“All these horses have a very good turn of foot, but he’s got plenty of speed, he’s always had it, he’s improved every start and he stays a mile and a quarter well.

“He’s meeting a few of the same rivals again, but now there’s the three-year-olds with a weight advantage and Sosie looks a serious horse, so he might have to improve again.”