Tag Archive for: Tony Bloom

Sky Majesty the Haydock hope for William Haggas in Saturday’s Sprint Cup

/in /by

Sky Majesty will bid to give William Haggas back-to-back victories in the Betfair Sprint Cup at Haydock on Saturday, with the trainer opting against running Almeraq in the Group One contest.

The three-year-old Almeraq was a five-length winner of the Ayr Gold Cup Trial last time and with that big handicap later this month already ruled out, Haggas and owners Shadwell were deliberating making a swift leap to Group One level.

However, a smaller step to Listed company is now the plan, with Almeraq to contest the Starman Garrowby Stakes at York the day after Sky Majesty lines up on Merseyside.

Haggas said: “We’re just going to run Sky Majesty at Haydock and Almeraq will head to York on Sunday.

“Any rain is going to suit Sky Majesty well and she’s heading there bang in form.

“Whether that form is good enough we will see, but she goes there fully entitled to take a shot.”

Owned by Brighton and Hove Albion supremo Tony Bloom alongside Ian McAleavy, Sky Majesty has really hit her stride of late with two impressive victories in Ireland which convinced connections to stump up the supplementary fee of £20,000.

The owners’ racing manager Sean Graham added: “Her best run last year was at Chantilly when she won on heavy ground.

“We’re very hopeful she will prove up to Group One level and if there’s going to be plenty of runners you can often need a little luck in running and sometimes the draw can play a part, but we’d be very happy she is heading there in good form and she’s entitled to take her chance.”

With the ground currently described as good, good to soft in places on Merseyside, it could prove the ideal opportunity for the filly to step back up to the highest level while in peak condition.

Sky Majesty also holds a Group One entry for the Qipco British Champions Sprint at Ascot on October 18, with Saturday’s outing set to provide a guide for future targets.

Sky Majesty rafter winning at Ayr last season
Sky Majesty rafter winning at Ayr last season (Steve Welsh/PA)

“You don’t get too many chances to have a crack at a Group One when conditions are in your favour and also she holds an entry in the Group One at Ascot on British Champions Day,” continued Graham.

“So Saturday will tell us if she has a right to run in that or if we’re flying a bit high and it will give us an idea where we’re going to go for the rest of the season as well.”

Sky Majesty is currently a 10-1 chance with the sponsors for the Sprint Cup.

Next stop the Curragh for Venetian Sun

/in /by

Venetian Sun is Curragh-bound after enhancing her already big reputation with a superb defeat of Gstaad in the Prix Morny at Deauville.

Trained by Karl Burke and owned by Tony Bloom and Ian McAleavy, the Starman filly is unbeaten in four starts having followed a Carlisle debut with an Albany Stakes triumph at Royal Ascot.

She then won the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket to further prove herself a top-class prospect, earning a shot at Group One level against the colts at Deauville as a result.

There she took the scalp of Aidan O’Brien’s Coventry winner Gstaad by a short neck, giving rider Clifford Lee a first Group One triumph and rewarding the courage of connections in aiming high.

They believe she will be better still over seven furlongs, and with that in mind the Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh on September 14 is next up, ahead of a winter break that will lead into her Classic season next year.

“Karl Burke has never disguised how much he thought of this filly, even before she ran and made her debut at Carlisle,” said Sean Graham, racing manager to Bloom.

“I actually travelled from London that day, three and a quarter hours on the train, because he was waxing lyrical about her work at home.

“She went and did it well enough without blowing us away with the performance, and when she went to Ascot you’d probably have struggled to fancy her based on that form.

“But her work between Carlisle and Ascot was just sensational, she was working with Lethal Levi and he couldn’t get away from her.

“Karl was working her with these five- and six-year-olds, proper Listed and Group sprinters, and they couldn’t get her off the bridle.

“The performance at Ascot was very, very good, the plan was then to give her a break and bring her back for the Lowther or an autumn campaign, but she only lost four kilos having travelled up to Ascot and back to Middleham on the box and then run in sweltering heat.

“Karl said the race hadn’t taken a thing out of her so that’s why we decided to go to Newmarket, and though on the day it didn’t look as though she won it that impressively, the second-placed horse of Ed Walker’s (Royal Fixation) has gone and won the Lowther since so the form stacks up.

“Our plan was just to go to the Moyglore because we think she’ll be better over seven furlongs, but Karl said the filly was in fantastic form at home and though it was a Group One over six furlongs against the colts, Ian and Tony are great sports people.

“We thought we’d have a crack and that she’d lose nothing in defeat if she was beaten by a very impressive winner.

“Like her other wins, the race wasn’t really run to suit but she wasn’t giving an inch and she still won.

“All being well we will go to the Moyglare for her next and probably final start of the year, then we’ll put her away and hopefully bring her back for the Guineas next year.”