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Majestic Dawn makes all for Goodwood glory

3 minute read

Majestic Dawn turned the Listed William Hill Festival Stakes into a rout under a positive ride from Jim Crowley at Goodwood.

MAJESTIC DAWN.
MAJESTIC DAWN. Picture: Pat Healy Photography

The Paul and Oliver Cole-trained son of Dawn Approach had finished 17 lengths behind Solid Stone when last of four in the Group Two Huxley Stakes at Chester over a similar 10-furlong trip.

Yet the drop down in class was clearly what was needed, as the six-year-old, sent off the 3-1 favourite, scorched to a three-and-three-quarter-length success.

Oliver Cole said: "He gave him a great ride and that was the plan, to get him out in front.

"It is good ground and I suppose his ideal trip is one mile and one furlong and we could not be any happier. He is a very gutsy horse.

"He is in the mile at Royal Ascot (Royal Hunt Cup), but we will probably have to sidestep that, because he will have too much weight, and try to find a Group Three somewhere. If he'd have run in the Cambridgeshire last year, he probably would have won."

Co-Owner Lee Green was quick to pay tribute to the Cole team, adding: "He has had loads of problems with his knees and they have worked so hard to get those knees right all through the winter – otherwise we would not have been here."

The possibility of the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot was mooted after Fully Wet landed the British European Breeders' Fund EBF Maiden Fillies' Stakes at the first time of asking for John and Thady Gosden.

Though she fetched 120,000 guineas as a yearling, the light-framed daughter of Kodiac belied her 8-1 odds in the six-furlong contest to cruise past Baccarat Bay and score by a length and a quarter under Robert Havlin.

Thady Gosden said: "We will keep her at six (furlongs) for the time being but in time she will get seven or a mile, and the Albany is a possibility. They had a lot of rain here yesterday. It is riding a bit dead and she would appreciate a sounder surface."

William Muir is also looking ahead to the Royal meeting with Galiac, who took the William Hill Harroways Handicap Stakes.

The 16-1 shot drew a length and three-quarters clear of Find in the seven-furlong event and Muir feels the Britannia Handicap will be on the agenda, should he be able to sneak in at the foot of the weights.

Muir said: "This was a real top-class horse last year. But when he came up here today, he was lashing and kicking. I put him in the stable and he nearly kicked the back of the stable out.

"He has been working like a train and we are hoping to get him in the Britannia.

"He is a very good horse, but he is just a thug. I'm delighted with him."

Alan King's runners must always be respected at his "lucky track" and he struck with Inchicore (9-2) in the Brenda Reid Memorial Handicap Stakes before landing a double, as Haseefah (13-2) took the European Breeders Fund EBF Fillies' Handicap Stakes.

Friday's rain played to Inchicore's strengths and the Galileo mare battled hard under Andrea Atzeni to grind out a neck success over Surrey Gold in the one-and-three-quarter-mile contest, having advertised her good form with a fair fourth at Newbury last time.

King said: "We got her some black type in France at the end of last year and we decided to keep her in training as we think there is a big handicap in her on soft ground.

"We have to be careful. We might have to wait for the autumn. She is a different filly when it is really testing. A mile and six (furlongs) or two miles is her trip.

"She ran very well at Newbury the other day over two miles and it was quickish ground. She wasn't quite getting to the front two and Tom Marquand just left her alone.

"There could be a good one in her and she will be a lovely broodmare later on."

He was quickly back in the winner's enclosure with Haseefah, who backed up her recent Chester win and stuck on doggedly under 5lb claimer George Bass to land a neck success in the 12-furlong fillies' handicap.

King added: "She bolted up at Market Rasen on her debut over hurdles, then it went completely wrong after that.

"We gave her a break and sent her to Kelso and I've never had one jump worse.

"Anyway, she is back, she has won her two and she is progressive over a mile and a half or a mile and six. She will go on a bit quicker ground, and we might just try to get a bit of black type into her, as she has a good pedigree."

This is a big week for King, who is who is hoping for more rain ahead of Ascot Gold Cup favourite Trueshan's intended prep run at Sandown on Thursday.

He added: "We want a wet week next week so I can run Trueshan at Sandown. I'd just love to get him out if I can – more rather to take the freshness off him.

"If we can't, I might gallop him somewhere."

The closing St Roche's Hill Handicap went to 18-1 shot Kape Moss for David Loughnane and David Egan.


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