Mike Cattermole: Hail the Prince

HARRY ANGEL AND KIRBY GET REVENGE

Harry Angel won the July Cup in brilliant style and was just too quick for Limato who lost little in attempting to defend a title that is rarely defendable. Only Abernant and Right Boy have ticked that box.

Unlike at Ascot, the six furlongs on the July Course suited Harry Angel so much better than Caravaggio who didn’t get going until it was too late. And much of the credit for the winner’s success lay with Adam Kirby who, unbeknown to me at least, had felt that Harry A should have won the Commonwealth Cup too if things had dropped more kindly.  

Having learned much at Ascot, Kirby was brilliant on Saturday and rode Clive Cox’s colt with more restraint and the end result was pretty emphatic. Harry  hasn’t been entered in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York next month but he has loads of pace for the minimum trip, so don’t be surprised if he is supplemented for £30,000 on August 19 as it a long wait until the Haydock Sprint Cup on September 9.

Limato, meanwhile, will head off for the Lennox Stakes at Goodwood on August 1 where he will no doubt take all the beating, ground permitting.

And what about Caravaggio? It is always a shame when an unbeaten horse loses. But the only way is up – in trip. Even when he won the Commonwealth Cup, the feeling was that he was shaping as though he would be suited by a little further and that surely was confirmed at Newmarket.

The Prix Maurice De Gheest at Deauville over the extra half furlong on August 6 is being considered but perhaps a crack at a mile should be on the cards now with the Jacques Le Marois up just a week later at the chic French venue.

Caravaggio is a big, powerful, muscular beast and it could be that a little bit of give in the ground might suit him ideally now and those conditions sometimes prevail at Deauville.

After that, two intriguing international targets might be tempting: the inaugural “Everest” at Randwick in October and the Breeders Cup Mile at Del Mar later that month. It is anybody’s guess what the ground will be like at those two venues.

At the moment, I wouldn’t be sure that The Everest should figure on the agenda for Caravaggio. The way I see it, it wouldn’t play to his strengths and would be asking a lot. 

Like climbing Everest, in fact.

CASPIAN PRINCE – A STAR WHEREVER HE GOES

While the big guns were battling it out at Newmarket, there was another sprinting shootout to savour just under an hour later over in Ireland.

Perhaps this one involved some even faster racehorses.

Caspian Prince, the eight-year-old gelding, battled back to beat last year’s Prix de l’Abbaye heroine Marsha in the Group Two Sapphire Stakes over a flying five furlongs at the Curragh.

Few are as quick as Caspian Prince these days, who was gaining his first Group win - on his 73rd start!

Caspian Prince has been around a bit and started his career in France under the care of Eoghan O’Neill, making his debut on the Fibresand at Deauville in December 2011. 

He won four times for O’Neill before Tony Carroll bought him for 20,000 EUROS at the Arqana Sales in November of 2013. Since then, he has carried the colours of Stephen Louch but has led a nomadic existence.

Carroll kept him until June of 2015, winning six more including a first Epsom Dash and a valuable handicap at Meydan.

Then, he transferred to Dean Ivory and won another Dash in 2016 as well as a big handicap at York’s Ebor meeting the previous summer.

He then left Ivory in August of 2016 and joined David Loughnane for just two starts, one of which he won at Beverley.

Two months later, he was sent to Roger Fell for whom he won his first two races. Since May of this year, he has been based with Tony Coyle who saddled him to win his third Dash last month before this latest triumph.

I have no idea why this superb, consistent racehorse has been moved about so much but the fact is that Caspian Prince has never failed to deliver – he has won for all six of the trainers he has raced for and picked up over £600,000 in prize money.

Given that we now know him as one of the fastest around over 5f, it is incredible to think that O’Neill once tried him over a fraction short of a mile and a half. At the time it made perfect sense as, amazingly, Caspian Prince is actually bred to be suited by middle distances, being by Dylan Thomas out of a Rainbow Quest mare!

That mare – his dam - is Desert Gaze who was unraced but is a full sister to Desert Quest who won over hurdles and fences at up to 2m3f for Paul Nicholls. 

How can anybody explain then why she has made a speciality at producing good sprinters, which also include Spirit Quartz and Peacehaven?

Her latest runner is a three-year-old Frankel colt called At Your Service who made his debut over a mile at the Curragh three weeks ago for trainer Willie Browne, finishing fifth of 10. 

He faded in the closing stages, so perhaps Browne should save some time and just drop him back in trip next time!

BALLYDOYLE BRINGING OUT THE BEST IN GODOLPHIN

It’s such a shame that we won’t be seeing Minding again - she was something very special. With Wings Of Eagles also being retired and Caravaggio losing his unbeaten record, these were certainly setbacks of sorts for Ballydoyle/Coolmore.

But the show goes on and the July Festival was still a good one for Aidan and the lads with Roly Poly serving so well as supersub in Winter’s absence to pick up the Group One Falmouth Stakes, while Gustav Klimt and Clemmie clearly have the world at their feet.

But the wonderful thing about this Flat season is that Godolphin is hardly lying down and letting it all happen around them. Harry Angel marches on and now we are set for Ribchester verses Churchill in the Sussex Stakes in a fortnight’s time.

And the Godolphin juveniles are shaping up pretty well, too. I very much liked the way Poetic Charm, trained by Charlie Appleby, won her maiden in the opening race at HQ last Saturday – beating the O’Brien-trained Sizzling who had had the benefit of a run.

Appleby is certainly flying the royal blue flag in the juvenile department with 15 wins from 38 starters on the turf at the time of writing – that’s a strike rate of almost 40%!

However, Saeed Bin Suroor’s strike rate with the youngsters stands at 100%! That’s because he has had just the one runner of course, Moseeb, who won at York at the beginning of the month. 

Overall, Suroor is enjoying a fine run though, recently landing the Group One Prix Jean Prat with Thunder Snow. But the lack of juvenile action on his part certainly bears out his comments of frustration on that front a few weeks ago. 

WHAT A START BY OLLY MURPHY!

Olly Murphy, son of bloodstock agent Aidan and trainer Annabel, only sent out his first runner just over two weeks ago – that was Dove Mountain who won at Brighton under Luke Morris.

Since then, he has sent out three more winners over jumps, including an across-the-card double at Southwell and Stratford on Sunday.

The former assistant to Gordon Elliott has also fallen foul of the stewards for pulling out three horses after a race failed to divide as he had hoped.

You could say he has made quite an impression already! Having met Olly just briefly on a golf course, I came away thinking that this young man was going to make a serious go at the game. 

I am not in the least surprised at the flying start he has made.

“SUPER SATURDAY” IS FOLLOWED BY … NOT A LOT

We have the same old debate year after year. Last Saturday’s “feast” of racing is an over indulgence, simple as that. It’s busy enough here and there is also the Irish Oaks meeting over at the Curragh to take in, too.

Why is it blatantly obvious that this is so? Because it has resulted in an imbalance so that this Saturday is one of the flattest in the calendar. It needs a boost. 

Newmarket, having shifted the July Festival to the weekend from midweek, has made it clear that it has no intention of going back to where it was, so why not ask York to push the York John Smith’s meeting back a week?

It wouldn’t impact too much on Newbury, who have top billing at the moment and would remain the major meeting in the south, at least. 

York might lose a meeting but could stage an excellent mid-summer weekend fixture spread over three days, Friday to Sunday, by bringing forward next Saturday’s card, featuring the SkyBet York Stakes and SkyBet Dash. Those, along with the John Smith’s Cup, would give you a superb event. 

Those races that miss out – and not too bad in their own right - could feature on the Sunday which would still be a huge sellout up there, although I admit that it probably wouldn’t get terrestrial TV coverage.

However, it would allow William Derby and his team an extra week to prepare the track for the Ebor Meeting.

Worth considering?