John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on the racing front on Wednesday.
Three points of interest
Nottingham newcomer Sea of Kings has plenty to live up to on pedigree
Most of the nine runners in Nottingham’s mile and a quarter maiden (15:05) are making their debuts and the one who really takes the eye on pedigree is Harry Eustace’s Sea The Stars colt Sea of Kings. He was the most expensive of those who have been through the ring, having been sold for €250,000 as a foal at Goffs in Ireland to race in the grey colours of Clipper Logistics.
Sea of Kings is out of the useful Italian middle-distance winner Holy Moon who has made much more of a name for herself as a broodmare. In fact, her own breeding record takes up the entire page of the sales catalogue. All thirteen of Holy Moon’s previous foals have made it to the track and all thirteen of them have won.
Remarkably, they include three consecutive winners of the Italian Oaks – Cherry Collect, Charity Line and Final Score – with the latter pair also winning the Group 1 Premio Lydia Tesio. Another of Holy Moon’s daughters, Wordless, was a Group 3 winner in Italy, while her three colts to have earned black type include Back On Board who was runner-up in the Derby Italiano. In all, no fewer than eight of her offspring have earned a Timeform rating of more than 100, the latest to do being Aidan O’Brien’s 2022 Irish Cesarewitch winner Waterville.
But that still leaves Holy Moon’s best performer of all Sea of Class (Timeform rating 129) who was a full sister to Sea of Kings. Trained by William Haggas, she ran up a four-timer as a three-year-old, which included the Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks, before failing by just a short neck to catch Enable in the 2018 Arc. Those with experience in this maiden don’t set too high a standard, so Sea of Kings may well be able to keep up his dam’s 100% record of winners to runners at the first attempt.
Rare Hannon raid at Catterick can pay off
Richard Hannon has had only a couple of runners – both made the frame – at Catterick in the last five seasons so it looks worth taking note of the two runners he’s sending to the North Yorkshire track on Wednesday. She Went Whoosh has place chances in the five-furlong handicap at 14:43 but Dapperling looks more interesting in the six-furlong handicap (17:20) that rounds off the card.
The four-year-old filly owned by Fitri Hay is yet to add to her sole success which came as a two-year-old at Lingfield before she finished second in the very valuable Super Sprint at Newbury. Last season, Dapperling finished third at Wolverhampton and Brighton from seven starts in handicaps, but she ended the year out of sorts.
On the other hand, Dapperling is now looking a potentially well-handicapped filly, and she resumes this year from a BHA mark of 70 which is 10 lb lower than where she started off last season. As a result, she tops the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings here and looks worth chancing to make a successful reappearance for a stable which had a double at Doncaster’s opening turf meeting.
Leading 2000 Guineas contender Cosmic Year returns at Kempton
With the major trials coming up over the next week or so before the first classic on May 3rd, they could bring a bit more clarity to what is a wide-open 2000 Guineas market at present. Rather than the Greenham at Newbury later this week in which he was also entered, Harry Charlton has chosen a novice at Kempton (18:10) as a prep race for his leading 2000 Guineas hope Cosmic Year, 8/1 in most lists for Newmarket, who is also one of Timeform’s Horses To Follow this season. It’s worth remembering that last year’s 2000 Guineas winner Notable Speech did all his racing beforehand at Kempton.
Cosmic Year comes from a fine Juddmonte family as his dam is the smart mare Passage of Time whose wins included the Criterium de Saint-Cloud and Musidora Stakes and who was placed at the Breeders’ Cup. Cosmic Year is already her sixth foal to have earned a Timeform rating of over 100, with the best of his siblings being the high-class colt Time Test who won four pattern races for Harry Charlton’s father Roger.
Cosmic Year earned a very high rating for a newcomer of 105 when making an impressive debut in a novice at Sandown last September. Well supported beforehand, Cosmic Year quickened to lead over a furlong out before drawing right away from the odds-on favourite Rock d’Oro, having six and a half lengths to spare at the line but with even more in hand. The ease of Cosmic Year’s win earned him Timeform’s ‘Large P’ symbol denoting he’s thought capable of considerably better. He can make it two out of two here on the way to bigger things.
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