Tag Archive for: Venetian Sun

Next stop the Curragh for Venetian Sun

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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.”

Venetian Sun shines against the colts in Prix Morny

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Karl Burke was left in awe of Venetian Sun’s brilliance as the filly saw off the colts to remain unbeaten in a star-studded Sumbe Prix Morny at Deauville.

Owned by Brighton & Hove Albion’s Tony Bloom along with Ian McAleavy, the daughter of Starman was the only filly in the six-strong line-up, as she ventured to France in a bid to add to her Royal Ascot victory in the Albany Stakes and Duchess of Cambridge triumph at Newmarket.

American raider Outfielder set the early fractions seeking to give Wesley Ward a fourth win in the race, but as that rival checked out with a furlong to run, Clifford Lee was beginning to make his challenge aboard Venetian Sun who had travelled smoothly in the slipstream of Aidan O’Brien’s Coventry Stakes hero Gstaad.

Charlie Appleby’s Wise Approach was another to make late progress but Venetian Sun was ultimately too tough to crack for her high-class rivals as she showcased her electric turn of foot once again to raise her reputation to yet another level and give her big-race pilot a first winner in elite company.

It was the second time Burke has tasted success in the six-furlong Group One after Unfortunately landed the spoils in 2017 and his second big winner of the summer at Deauville after Fallen Angel’s Prix Rothschild success.

Burke said: “That was absolutely brilliant, unbelievable, she’s a superstar filly. I’ve been saying for a while she’s a special filly and I think she has proven that today.

“The whole race went exactly how we thought and hoped it would and Cliff got her in a lovely rhythm. She’s so relaxed and once she’s in behind she falls asleep and then she’s got that electric turn of foot.

“It’s a first Group One for Clifford, he probably should have won the German Derby last month but just missed out so I’m delighted for him as well.

Clifford Lee aboard Venetian Sun at Royal Ascot
Clifford Lee aboard Venetian Sun at Royal Ascot (John Walton/PA)

“I’ve been very lucky to train a lot of good fillies like Quiet Reflection, then Laurens and Fallen Angel, but at this stage of her career she would be way ahead of them.

“She’s doing things on the gallops at home that a two-year-old filly should not be doing and then she goes and keeps winning as well.”

Venetian Sun was made Coral’s 6-1 favourite for next year’s 1000 Guineas on the back of her triumph in France and will now put Classic aspirations to the test when stepping up to seven furlongs in the Curragh’s Moyglare Stud Stakes on September 14 – a race the Spigot Lodge handler won with Fallen Angel two years ago.

Burke added: “Hopefully she can come out of this well and we can go to the Moyglare and then we will know if we can make a plan for running over seven furlongs or further for next year.

“I would be amazed if she doesn’t get the seven furlongs well and to be honest I’ve always thought she would be better over seven furlongs.”

Venetian Sun on course for Prix Morny before stepping up in trip

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Karl Burke is keen for Venetian Sun to have one final outing at six furlongs in the Prix Morny before she steps up in distance later in the campaign.

The unbeaten two-year-old followed in the footsteps of former Spigot Lodge inmate Dandalla when backing up Albany Stakes success in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes and with the form of both races looking red-hot, connections are justified in aiming sky high with their talented daughter of Starman.

“She’s a very high-class filly and we’re aiming her at the Morny,” said Burke.

“If everything is as it should be at that stage going into the race – we’ll have a good opposition at the time – then she will probably go there.”

Owned by Brighton & Hove Albion supremo Tony Bloom along with Ian McAleavy, Venetian Sun is sure to move up in trip in a bid to replicate Burke’s Fallen Angel at the Curragh in the Moyglare Stud Stakes on September 14.

But before that, the exciting youngster is being prepared to head to Deauville on August 17, where she has the chance to join the Middleham handler’s 2017 winner Unfortunately on the Morny roll of honour.

“If we don’t go to the Morny we will go straight to the Moyglare and all being well if she does take in the Morny, she will then go on to the Curragh and the Moyglare over seven as well,” continued Burke.

“We’re very keen to step her up to seven, but the Morny is too big a prize to leave behind and it will be very interesting to see who stands their ground for the race and at the moment it’s what she is being trained for.

“She came out of Newmarket bouncing fresh and she has just started picking up her work and we’re ready to build her up for the Morny.”

No hurry for Burke to set Venetian Sun target

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Karl Burke is keeping his options open with Venetian Sun following her latest big-race success at Newmarket last week.

The Spigot Lodge handler has not made any secret of the regard in which he holds the Starman filly and she has so far lived up to the billing, with a debut success at Carlisle followed by victories in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes on the July course.

She will now be readied for a step up to Group One company for the first time, but whether that will come at Deauville next month or the Curragh in September remains to be seen.

“Venetian Sun is 100 per cent, she’s had a nice easy week on the water treadmill and we’re very happy with her,” Burke said on Thursday.

“We’ll start preparing her and look at the Prix Morny and see whether we go. If we go there we’ll go on to the Moyglare, or we could go straight to the Moyglare.

“We’ll see how she is and make a decision closer to the time.”

Venetian Sun stays unbeaten in Duchess of Cambridge Stakes

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Venetian Sun narrowly held off the late charge of Royal Fixation to win the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket and in the process take her unbeaten record to three.

Sent off the 2-5 favourite after a convincing Albany Stakes success at Royal Ascot, Venetian Sun travelled supremely well throughout the six-furlong Group Two and when Clifford Lee asked her to quicken, it looked a matter of how far.

Royal Fixation and William Buick had other ideas though, launching their challenge away from the market leader in the final furlong, with Venetian Sun’s margin only a neck in the end, although there was still a slightly cosy feel to it.

The Karl Burke-trained winner was left an unchanged 14-1 shot for next year’s 1000 Guineas by Paddy Power.

Burke said: “This race wasn’t part of the plan originally, we just made a decision last week to enter and have a look at the race and if we were happy with the filly and happy with the race then we might take our chance.

“There’s been no issues with the filly, but we haven’t trained her for this race – we’ve been fairly easy on her since Ascot, as you would expect, with the thought that we’d go for the Lowther at York or maybe the Prix Morny.

“Now she’s won a Group Two that brings the Morny into it more than the Lowther. We won’t say we’re definitely going to the Morny, but if the ground is a bit easier and it’s a race we think we can be very competitive in we could go there and still have time to get her ready for the Moyglare.

“If we’re not happy with her for the Morny, we’ll go straight to the Moyglare.”

Venetian Sun and jockey Clifford Lee after winning the Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket
Venetian Sun and jockey Clifford Lee after winning the Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket (Joe Giddens/PA)

Burke completed the Albany/Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes double with Dandalla five years ago, while Laurens and Fallen Angel were both Classic-winning fillies for the Spigot Lodge handler, who has made no secret of the regard in which he holds his latest potential star.

“I would say she’s another league above Dandalla, who was a very good racehorse but this filly is a little bit special,” he added.

“She’d be quicker than Laurens and Fallen Angel. They were high-class, Group One-winning fillies and this filly hasn’t done that yet, but she’d be a lot quicker and she’s a very straightforward filly with a fantastic mind.”

Ed Walker was delighted with the performance of runner-up Royal Fixation.

He said: “I’m very proud of her. You come in here off the back of a Thirsk maiden and you don’t really know how good you are, but she’s very good.

“It would have been disappointing if she had run badly as we rate her very highly among our two-year-olds, but to run that filly (Venetian Sun) as close as we did is pretty exciting because I think she’s a very special filly.

“Briefly I thought we might get there. I could just sense from Will’s body language that he thought he had a chance.

“I think she was a bit green. She never came off the bridle at Thirsk so today is the first time she’s had a proper race. There’s lots more to come, I’d say.

“I don’t know where we’ll go next – I’ll have a cold beer and worry about that later. The Lowther has got to be a potential target.”

Options aplenty for impressive Albany heroine Venetian Sun

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Connections of Venetian Sun will be dreaming big after she rose admirably to the challenge at Royal Ascot to land the Albany Stakes.

The filly has clearly always been held in high regard by trainer Karl Burke, and demonstrated exactly why when overcoming a difficult draw to take Group Three honours by a length and a half last week.

While there is no great hurry to formulate an immediate plan for the two-year-old daughter of Starman, a handful of races have been identified as possible next targets for the Tony Bloom and Ian McAleavy-owned youngster.

Bloom’s racing manager Sean Graham said: “Karl said she came out of the race in great order.

All smiles for the Venetian Sun team at Royal Ascot
All smiles for the Venetian Sun team at Royal Ascot (John Walton/PA)

“You’ve Newmarket for the Duchess of Cambridge, which is six furlongs at the July meeting, and you’ve got the Lowther over six furlongs at York. Later in the season you’ve also got the Moyglare over seven furlongs at the Curragh.

“We said to Karl that we’d let the hare sit after Royal Ascot and not be in any mad rush to make any definite decisions, but those races are certainly on our radar.

“If you win the Albany from a dreadful draw you probably have a much better filly still, she had no cover and was on the wide outside – everything went wrong and yet she still won.”

The Guineas was mentioned in the immediate aftermath of the Ascot contest, with all connections singing from the same hymn sheet with regards to Venetian Sun’s potential, while remaining mindful that her three-year-old season is a distant prospect still.

Graham added: “I think most trainers would automatically be thinking about the Guineas with an Albany winner, but her owners are very aware that an awful lot can happen between now and then so we won’t get too ahead of ourselves.”

Venetian Sun shines brightest in Albany Stakes

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Venetian Sun backed up Karl Burke’s confidence in her ability with a dominant display in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Ante-post favourite in the build up to the race following an impressive winning debut at Carlisle, she was sent off at 7-1 in the end with Burke having drawn a blank with several other fancied juvenile runners this week.

She also had to overcome what looked a disadvantageous draw in stall one under Clifford Lee, yet despite having no cover, she was in front with a furlong to run and pulled a length and a half clear of Awaken and Balantina.

Burke said of his daughter of Starman, who is owned by Tony Bloom and Ian McAleavy: “She’s a beauty of a filly. She was asleep in the prelims, she’s done it the hard way, stuck on the worst draw on paper so I’m just delighted for everybody.

“Her work at home has been pretty special, I certainly haven’t had a two-year-old work the way she has. She’s kicked some proper horses out of the way, so much so that the first time she did it I had to change to another good lead horse just to prove a point and she did the same to him.

“She’s a special filly. I was gutted we got the draw that we had and to be honest, she’s won despite that because it’s not really the way we like to ride her – loads of daylight.

“She’s got a great turn of foot and she can get in amongst them and use it. She’ll stay further, I think six or seven, she’s got a great chance next year of being a Guineas filly but we’ll enjoy today and plan for the future.

“She’s a beautiful looking filly, she was an expensive Book One filly. She wasn’t a precocious early one, which sounds strange as she’s won now but she was never going to be a five-furlong filly, even though she’s won over five.

“The two older horses she’s been working with, Spycatcher and Lethal Levi, they’re good old work horses and proper Group horses – almost Group One horses – I haven’t had a two-year-old that would do that to that type of animal before.”

Bloom, who has enjoyed huge success with his runners over jumps, said: “Yes, 7-1 looks a good price now, and she was 12-1 this morning as well. Given the confidence Karl gave us, we had to have a decent bet. We’ll leave it to the boss, but we’re looking ahead to next season and to a potential 1000 Guineas, so that would be something really to look forward to.”