It’s a Classic weekend in France, where the Poule d’Essai des Poulains French 2,000 Guineas) and Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (French 1,000 Guineas) are on the card at Longchamp tomorrow, due off at 3.25BST and 4.05 BST respectively.
Up-and-coming trainer Ollie Sangster, who saddled both the second and third fillies home in last weekend’s 1,000 Guineas, will make another attempt to break his Classic duck whenCelestial Orbitlines up for the fillies’ event.
She was second behindZanzoun –who was a big fancy for this prior to being scratched with a minor setback earlier in the week – on her seasonal reappearance in theNell Gwyn Stakesat Newmarket in April, and has picked up a useful draw near the rail in two.
“She’s been in great form since the Nell Gwyn and seems to have taken a nice step forward from that run,”Sangstersaid on Saturday.
“I think the mile will be a positive for her and we are happy with the draw we have out inParis. It was good-to-soft when we declared and it will be interesting to see what it is like, as she wouldn’t want anything too quick. That would be a slight concern, but other than that it would be all systems go.”
A total of 10 runners fortwo recognised Classic trialswith a total of£120,000in the prize money pot is a disappointing turnout from Lingfield’s point of view – and three runners in the Oaks Trial particularly so – but it was hardly an advertisement in terms of attracting decent fields that theturf trackwas approved for use only on Tuesday, following an inspection by the British Horseracing Authority.
The course has been watering almost around the clock from the start of May to ensure safe ground, but was very much playing catch-up after the local water authority asked it to stop watering during one of the driest Aprils on record.
The course would have had the option of switching today’s card to the all-weather, but the whole point of Lingfield as a trial venue is that its turf track, with a downhill run to a sharpish left-hand turn, is a decent facsimile of what will face theDerby and Oaksrunners when they descend towardsTattenham Cornerat Epsom next month.
A switch to thePolytrackwas avoided this time around but amid the uncertainty, it is not surprising that some trainers at least may have found alternative targets for their potential Classic contenders.
1.15 LINGFIELD, OAKS TRIAL FILLIES’ STAKES, 3YO, 1M 3F 133YD
The three-runner Oaks Trial revolves around Aidan O’Brien’sGiselle,who is bred in the purple – by Frankel out of Newspaperofrecord, a Breeders’ Cup winner on turf as a juvenile – and looked unlucky to be denied a Group Three win behind her stable companion,Whirl, on her final start at two at the Curragh last October. She’s in green colours on the outside, rather than the orange and blue she will be wearing today.
She was fourth across the line and subsequently promoted to third, and it seems as certain as these things can ever be that she will be much better over middle distances this season.Giselleis already no bigger than 20-1 for theOaksnext month, will go off at around 1-4 today and anything other than a comfortable success will be seen as a disappointment.
SELECTION: GISELLE
Good afternoon fromLingfield Parkin theleafy Surrey commuter belt,the latest stop on Flat racing’slongandwinding roadthrough the traditional Epsom Classic trials before attention turns to Leopardstown’s Derby Trial card on Sunday.
Lingfield’sDerby Trial, due off at 3.00, has been won by just two subsequent Epsom Classic winners this century, butAdayar, the 2021 Derby (and King George) winner finished second here, whileAmbienteFriendly, an impressive winner of this trial 12 months ago, set off as the 9-2 second-favourite and was beaten only by a resurgent City Of Troy.
This year’s race has attracted a seven-strong field headed by two runners from Aidan O’Brien’s stable –Puppet MasterandStay True -and an interesting, lightly-raced colt from Ralph Beckett’s yard,Prince Of The Seas.Season-by-season,Becketthas been working his way towards the very top of the mountain in British Flat racing and he saddled two Oaks winners in six years between 2008 and 2013, but he has had just four runners in the Derby, all at double-figure odds, with Westover’s third place in 2022 currently as close as he has been to winner.
TheOaks Trialat 1.15, meanwhile, is all about O’Brien’s runner,Giselle,the 1-4 favourite in a field of just three runners. She is already top-priced at 20-1 for the Oaks already, will set off at around 1-4 and could well be at single-figure odds if she comes up with a performance to match the pre-publicity.
Elsewhere around the country today, theVictoria Cup HandicapatAscot(2.40) will be the key race in many punters’ Yankees and Lucky 15s, and while the field of 18 – down from 19 at the final declarations – will be the smallest for 20 years, the bookies were still going 6-1 the field overnight.
And atHaydock, the annual mixed meeting – featuring races both on the Flat and over jumps – includes theSwinton Handicap Hurdle, a last hurrah for some useful two-mile handicap hurdlers before a well-deserved rest over the summer.
With seven meetings spread around the country and nine races in all on theITV Racingschedule – picks for which arehere, along with a recap on yesterday’sChester Cupcard. It is going to be a busy afternoon and you can follow the main action at Lingfield, Ascot, Haydock and elsewhere right here on the Guardian’s Saturday live blog.