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| Doyen and Dettori |
July Review
02/08/04 Goodwood provided its usual glorious end to July – a month that saw the older horses take the upper hand over the Classic generation and produced two more live contenders for Horse of the Year honours.
Vying for top performer of the month were dual Group 1 winner Soviet Song and Doyen, the impressive victor of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes. Both played leading roles in ensuring that the season’s first seven all-aged Group 1 contests fell to the older generation.
Utterly dominant
Doyen turned in an utterly dominant display in the King George, winning by three lengths from the American challenger Hard Buck. The quality of the field was criticised in some quarters as below the normal King George standard but Doyen beat third-placed Sulamani and Warrsan (ninth) by almost exactly the same margins as Alamshar managed in the 2003 edition, so the form had a solid-enough look.
Frankie Dettori said Doyen travelled better than any of his three previous King George winners and described the four-year-old as “absolutely devastating – unbelievable”.
Godolphin principal Sheikh Mohammed said “the sky is the limit” with Doyen, who could go for the Irish Champion Stakes next followed by the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and the Breeders’ Cup.
Flying filly
Overall it was another good month for Godolphin, whose other significant wins included Byron’s Group 2 Betfair Cup success at Goodwood. They also took the wraps off some of their top two-year-olds, notably Dubawi (who won the Group 3 Weatherbys Superlative Stakes at Newmarket) and Belenus.
However, even Sheikh Mohammed’s globetrotting empire could not stop the flying filly Soviet Song in the Group 1 Cantor Odds Sussex Stakes. Their representative was dual Group 1 winner Refuse To Bend – a narrow scorer over Soviet Song in the Queen Anne Stakes – but he finished a disappointing last in the mile contest.
Soviet Song won by a neck over Nayyir in another triumph for the older horses –2,000 Guineas winner Haafhd, the main flagbearer for the Classic crop, was only ninth.
Haafhd’s scalp completed a notable double for Soviet Song, who had earlier put 1,000 Guineas winner Attraction in her place when landing the Group 1 UAE Equestrian and Racing Federation Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket’s July meeting. Attraction was beaten by a decisive two and a half lengths as she suffered her first defeat in nine starts.
Talented older generation
The other Group 1 all-aged races run during July fell to Soviet Song’s five-year-old stablemate Frizzante (Darley July Cup) and the four-year-olds Favourable Terms (Vodafone Nassau Stakes) and Refuse To Bend (Coral-Eclipse). Those successes added to June’s Golden Jubilee Stakes win by Fayr Jag, who had started the Group 1 ball rolling for the talented older generation.
Two-year-olds to watch
The big juveniles tests are yet to come, but several promising types emerged during July. As well as Dubawi and Belenus – both among the single crop sired by Dubai Millennium before his untimely death – the early two-year-olds to watch include Shamardal.
The Mark Johnston-trained colt was cut to 10-1 favourite for next year’s 2,000 Guineas after recording his second win from as many starts in the Group 2 Veuve Clicquot Vintage Stakes at Goodwood. Johnston suggested there was plenty of improvement to come from the son of Giant’s Causeway, another of 2004’s most promising freshman sires.
Jewel In The Sand, a Listed winner at Royal Ascot, stepped up on that form to land the Group 2 Chippenham Lodge Stud Cherry Hinton Stakes at the Newmarket July meeting. Even so, in the early 1,000 Guineas betting she lags behind Ireland’s Damson, whose Queen Mary Stakes win has been franked in no uncertain fashion.
First, Siena Gold and Don’t Tell Mum (eighth and sixth respectively in the Royal Ascot race) finished one-two in the Weatherbys Super Sprint at Newbury and then Soar, the three-length Queen Mary runner-up, ran out an impressive winner in the Group 3 Princess Margaret Stakes on King George day at Ascot.
Making his mark
Peter Chapple-Hyam, who burst on to the scene as a first-season trainer in 1991 with star juveniles Rodrigo de Triano and Dr Devious, is making his mark again with his two-year-olds this season – his first back in Britain after a four-year spell in Hong Kong.
The Newmarket-based trainer sent out Captain Hurricane to land the Group 2 TNT July Stakes at Newmarket and then scored at the same level when Montgomery’s Arch took the Richmond Stakes at Goodwood. It is too early to tell whether the pair are capable of emulating Chapple-Hyam’s previous Classic heroes, but they will get the chance to prove themselves in Group 1 company now.
Captain Hurricane is set to go for the Prix Morny at Deauville on August 22, with Montgomery’s Arch likely to stay at home for the Middle Park or Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket.
British success abroad
This season has already brought its usual healthy share of British success abroad, with three Group 1 winners in July alone.
The star turn was Ouija Board, who followed up her stunning success in the Oaks by landing the Irish equivalent at The Curragh on July 18. Rain in the days leading up to the race had dampened the confidence of Ouija Board’s connections, but they needn’t have worried as she proved herself the pick of the middle-distance three-year-old fillies. The Aston Upthorpe Yorkshire Oaks is next on the agenda, and the good news is that she is set to stay in training next year.
Gamut landed his first Group 1 win in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, before finishing a worthy fourth in the King George three weeks later, while Britain’s third overseas Group 1 winner of the month was Albanova.
The five-year-old mare, making her first appearance in nine months, took the West LB Deutschlandpreis at Dusseldorf, where she found her preferred soft ground. Granted similar conditions, she is likely to form part of Britain’s assault on the Arc in October.
Record-breaking
Sir Mark Prescott, who trains Albanova, achieved another notable feat during July when sending out Masafi for a record-breaking seven wins in the space of 17 days. The three-year-old travelled the length and breadth of Britain between July 12 and 29, winning on the south coast at Folkestone and Brighton and as far north as Musselburgh and Carlisle. The latter course was the venue for his seventh success, which set a modern-day record for the quickest sequence of wins – the previous mark was Chaplins Club’s seven wins in 18 days in 1988.
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