Giavellotto may not be the best horse in training but there are few racing at present that come anywhere close to Marco Botti’s five-year-old in terms of strength and physique, and the opening-day crowd at the July Festival on Thursday enjoyed a memorable spectacle as the chestnut ran away with the feature race, the Group Two Princess Of Wales’s Stakes.
The 12-furlong contest started at the other end of the Newmarket Heath and the runners were still dots in the distance at the six-furlong pole, but even then it was soon clear that Hamish, the 11-10 favourite, was beginning to labour while Giavellotto and Oisin Murphy were travelling like almost certain winners. Murphy eventually made his move just over a furlong out and Giavellotto swiftly powered three-and-a-quarter lengths clear of Arrest at the line.
There could be no finer advertisement for patience with a Flat horse than the winner, who was a handicapper for much of his three-year-old career before being fast-tracked to the 2022 St Leger, where he finished third as a 28-1 chance.
His only subsequent Group One start came in the Goodwood Cup last summer, when he finished in the pack after Quickthorn slipped the field, but Giavellotto’s next outing will be a third attempt to notch a Group One win when he travels to the Curragh for the Irish St Leger on 15 September.
“Dropping back to a mile-and-a-half was never really a concern,” Botti said. “He is in the form of his life and is a much stronger horse this year. He travelled so well into the race and Oisin said it was only a matter of having to press the button and the horse picked up straight away and ran strongly to the line.”
Whistlejacket, who let his backers down when only fourth at odds-on in the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot, was back in the winner’s enclosure after an authoritative success in the Group Two July Stakes, while Ancient Wisdom, who took the Group One Futurity at Doncaster last October, also returned to winning form in the opening Bahrain Trophy.
The latter contest is one of the first trials for the St Leger in September and Ancient Wisdom is now likely to take in another trial for Doncaster – probably the Great Voltigeur Stakes at York in August – before the Classic itself.
“He is an autumn horse and we won’t jeopardise that by running him on unsuitable [fast] ground,” Charlie Appleby, Ancient Wisdom’s trainer, said. “I still feel this horse is not 100% there yet.”
Lilac smells sweet for punters
Seven of the last eight winners of Royal Ascot’s Coronation Stakes to attempt to follow up in the Group One Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket’s July Festival have been beaten, which is a sign of the very different test facing Porta Fortuna, this year’s Coronation winner, in the latest renewal of the Falmouth on the July course on Friday.
Porta Fortuna showed a sharp turn of foot to win at Ascot last month but the bare form of her one-length defeat of Opera Singer, third home in the Irish 1,000 Guineas, does not give her as much in hand of the field as a price of around 13-8 might suggest.
Running Lion and Rogue Millennium, the pick of the older horses in the field, have come up short in their previous Group One starts, so A Lilac Rolla (3.35) could be a better alternative to the favourite at around 5-1.
Paddy Twomey’s filly was two lengths in front of Opera Singer in the Irish 1,000 Guineas, when making only the fourth start of her career, and any improvement from that run would make her a serious threat to the favourite.
Newmarket 1.50 Mr Monaco is progressing well and this slight step up in trip could be just what he needs.
York 2.05 This track and trip brings the best out of Quest For Fun and he did not have a clear run when second here last time.
Newmarket 1.50 Mr Monaco 2.25 Fiery Lucy 3.00 Bague D’Or (nap) 3.35 A Lilac Rolla 4.10 Field Of Gold 4.45 Metabolt 5.20 No Half Measures
York 2.05 Quest For Fun (nb) 2.40 Unequal Love 3.15 Royalty Bay 3.50 Stressfree 4.20 Drink Dry 4.55 Glory Fighter 5.30 Kitsune Power
Ascot 2.15 Dreamrocker 2.50 Berkshire Kameo 3.25 Global Asset 4.00 Moogie 4.35 Condor Pasa 5.10 Fresh
Chepstow 5.15 Sub Thirteen 5.50 Silca Bay 6.25 Rhubarb 7.00 Rival 7.35 Lady Wingalong 8.10 Mullins Beach 8.45 Cherryhawk
Chester 6.05 The Flying Seagull 6.40 Dukes Of Haather 7.15 Dickieburd 7.50 So Deuce 8.25 Evocative Spark 8.55 Chalk Mountain
Newmarket 2.25 Few trainers place their horses as shrewdly as Gavin Cromwell and Fiery Lucy, a convincing maiden winner last time, could well outrun odds of around 14-1.
York 2.40 It was a big performance by Unequal Love last time to land the Wokingham off a mark of 102 and the form was backed up by the time.
Newmarket 3.00 The drop back to 12 furlongs was not what Bague D’Or needed at Ascot last time but he returns to a mile-and-three-quarters only 4lb ahead of his winning mark on the Rowley Mile in May.
