3 minute read
Trainer Clive Cox is happy to take on the unbeaten Godolphin colt, Pinatubo, for a second time with his own star two-year-old, Positive, in the Group 1 Darley Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket’s Rowley Mile Racecourse on Saturday (12th October).
The pair, first and second separated by five lengths in the Group 2 Vintage Stakes at Goodwood in July, were among 11 horses to remain engaged in the £523,750 seven furlong event at today's (Monday) confirmation stage.
The Darley Dewhurst Stakes is both the final day highlight of the two-day Dubai Future Champions Festival and the culmination of The Newmarket Gold Season, a four-week period when, thanks to top quality racing and the Tattersalls bloodstock sales, the Suffolk town stands at the centre of the global racing industry.
Positive , a son of the Newmarket-based stallion, Dutch Art, who was purchased for £57,750 at Tattersalls last October, has run once since his Vintage outing, landing the Group 3 Solario Stakes at Sandown Park on 31st August.
Pinatubo , meanwhile, has taken his career record to a perfect five-from-five by landing the Group 1 National Stakes at The Curragh by an astounding nine-length margin.
Irish Champion Trainer Aidan O'Brien has five remaining entries as he bids to improve upon his impressive record of four Darley Dewhurst victories in the last six years. They include the seven-length Group 2 Juddmonte Royal Lodge Stakes scorer, Wichita, supplemented this morning at a cost of £40,000, and Arizona, successful in the Group 2 Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Another leading contender is Molatham, who beat Wichita in the Listed Flying Scotsman Stakes at Doncaster last month, although Roger Varian's colt has the option of running instead in the Group 3 £60,000 Dubai Autumn Stakes over a mile, which takes place 35 minutes before the Darley Dewhurst and has 16 entries.
The Dubai Future Champions Festival gets under way on Friday when a seven-race card has the Group 1 bet365 Fillies' Mile as its centrepiece. The 13 two-year-old fillies engaged in this £567,500 event include two more £40,000 supplementary entries, Quadrilateral and Powerful Breeze.
Clive Cox, trainer of Positive, said:
"Positive has done really well since he won the Solario. He had a proper race that day and also impressed us very much when coming up against Pinatubo on his previous run.
"Like everyone else I have been extremely taken with Pinatubo, there's no disputing his quality, but I am hopeful that Positive can show the necessary improvement to close the gap to him on Saturday.
"We have had a dry summer, so my opinion may be based more on theory than fact, but I would like to think that Positive will be at home on the type of easier ground he is likely to encounter on Saturday.
"The Darley Dewhurst is a benchmark race which points forward to next year's Classic contenders and, while I appreciate it is a hot contest again this year, I am very happy that I have a colt good enough to be in the line-up.
"My only two previous runners have both been placed [Kodi Bear was second in 2014 and Xtension third in 2009] and Positive is a nice horse who is still on an upward curve."
Latest Darley Dewhurst Stakes odds from bet365:
30-100 Pinatubo, 4 Wichita, 15-2 Molatham, 12 Arizona, Positive, 25 Monarch Of Egypt, Mystery Power, Harpocrates, 33 Royal Commando, 40 Year Of The Tiger, 66 Iffraaz.
All 11 quoted. Each way 1/4th of the odds 1-2.
Latest bet365 Fillies' Mile odds from bet365:
9-4 Quadrilateral, 5-2 Cayenne Pepper, 100-30 Love, 6 Powerful Breeze, 10 Final Song, 12 Alpen Rose, Boomer, 14 Wasaayef, 16 Queen Daenerys, 25 Anastarsia, West End Girl, 40 Ananya, Peaceful.
All 13 quoted. Each way 1/5th of the odds 1-2-3.
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