Desert Flower stamped her class in the bet365 Fillies’ Mile and was a stunning success at Newmarket.
Unbeaten in his previous three races, Charlie Appleby took his form to another level in the Group One feature.
Perhaps not to everyone’s liking, going into the May Hill Stakes at Doncaster, Aidan O’Brien played three very highly regarded files against him, which saw Ryan Moore pick January, a length and a half behind the winner Town Moore.
Heading into the drop when Dreamy, another O’Brien inmate, dropped out and there were still three in contention, Ballydoyle pair Ballet Slippers and January and the eventual winner looking just a tad unbalanced at the time.
However, when they met on rising ground, the race was over and when William Buick straightened him he pulled away and the 10-11 favorite ran out an impressive five-and-a-half length winner from January.
Coral sent the winner down from 10 to 4-1 for next year’s 1,000 Guineas, trailing the 3-1 favorite Lake Victoria.
“You couldn’t have been more impressed and certainly at Doncaster when you walk into May Hill unbeaten everyone was expecting a bit of a ‘wow’.
“He was more difficult to manage. going down to post he picked up William I wasn’t there that day and Alex Merriam (assistant) and the team did a great job but he did some managing.
“William wasn’t sure what kind of discharge he was going to have that day, but when he jumped in the race and he got him behind one, he eventually got off and did it the right way.”
He continued. “Today I thought he had a very good parade and everything was good, calm and collected. It’s always nice to control all that energy at this level. In the spring he will be a more mature man for it.
“She’s a beauty who has pleased us, we had confidence in her daughter and she just pleased us the whole time. He’s not a fan of getting excited in the morning, it’s how he gets things done and gets high at the end of the run. like he hasn’t been through the run.
“He won’t run five lengths but he’ll get well ahead of a nice lead horse, get up and walk home and that gives you encouragement. The team was very positive when he came in today that if he was good. enough that he had done everything right at home.
“I think we’ve all seen him come around the board and he’s a big, mad man, if he puts on another 20 kilos over the winter I’ll be happy to see him in the spring. He hasn’t and he’s running well enough in the condition he’s in, but naturally you’d like to see him put up a bit over the winter.
“He’s definitely done that over the course of the year. I don’t see much point in going from where we are at the moment (a mile) next season. Can he stretch to 10 furlongs? It is possible. He is a nice horse to go to. with winter and we’ll be back in spring.”
O’Brien said of his three runners, with Ballet Slippers third in January and Dream fourth;
“They’re three to look forward to next year and they’re all classic type fillies.”
Topgear motors are cleaned for an impressive Challenge stroke
Topgear’s trip from France to Newmarket was well-deserved, conceding a big lead in the Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards Challenge Stakes winners.
Now trained by Christopher Head, who spent his formative years with Fabrice Chaplet, he is developing a reputation as a true seven-furlong specialist.
Head was one of several French trainers to run their property at ParisLongchamp last weekend, and no doubt if he hadn’t had the eventual winner of the Prix de la Foret in the spectacular Ramatuelle, Topgear would have run that race instead.
Topgear (S. Pasquier) struck gold at Newmarket
Stephane Paschieri, heavily backed offside to see off the 3-1 favourite, could be seen to be at his best.
The Royal Scot put a lonely groove on the rail for Jamie Spencer, running a magnificent race, closing in on a magnificent winner but still winning by five and a half lengths.
Stewart Williams’ prolific winner Quinall ran another big race, leading the field to the drop, but he had no answer to Topgear to finish third.
“I really love this horse, what a season for the stable and what a season for Wootton Bassett,” Head said.
“Stefan said he doesn’t blow candles and he’s a very nice horse. I am happy to see his progress.
“It’s been incredible to train for owner Mr Saito, he’s been in the stable since the start of the year and I’m very happy to win for him today. I hope there will be many, many more victories across Europe.
“He’s always been full speed and we’ve crushed him over the course of a kilometre. We are now confident that he is better at this distance so we will keep him in it and now have a strong discussion about the plan for next season.
“This horse can go anywhere and it’s going to be very interesting.”
