Weekend Watch: Big Day for Manton in Newbury’s Classic Trials

[Wandering Eyes]

If you're a jumps devotee, Saturday will be all about the Scottish Grand National meeting and wondering whether Willie Mullins can continue his ominous late charge in the British National Hunt trainers' championship to reel in long-time leader Dan Skelton. There is seemingly nothing the master of Closutton can't do. I wouldn't bet against him returning with a favourable deal for Ireland if he was sent as special envoy to Washington to negotiate with President Trump on tariffs.

But let's not spoil our weekend by worrying about the ever-changing diktats being issued from the Oval Office for there is some fine action to savour in the coming days, from Randwick to the Curragh, Newbury, Keeneland, Dusseldorf, Longchamp and Hanshin.

Japan, ahead of us all as always, stages its first Classic of the year on Sunday, the G1 Oka Sho. Don't miss Heather Anderson's preview of the race and overview of the stud career of the former Highclere Thoroughbred Racing star Harbinger (GB).

With the positioning of Easter meaning that Newbury is ahead of Newmarket this year in staging the first of its Classic Trials, we can look forward to the return of plenty of last year's top juveniles, with Christophe Soumillon crossing the Channel to take the ride on G3 Fred Darling favourite Simmering (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}), one of two fillies in the race for Ollie Sangster, along with Ellaria Sand (GB) (Sands Of Mali {Fr}).

The G3 Greenham Stakes was to have been the comeback mission for Juddmonte's Cosmic Year (GB) (Kingman {GB}) but the lively ground, among other factors, meant that we saw him burst back onto the scene in splendid fashion at Kempton on Wednesday. The Juddmonte team has other potential Classic colts to come in the next few days, with Jonquil (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) lining up for Andrew Balding at Newbury and the Solario Stakes winner Field Of Gold (GB) (Kingman {GB}) entered for Wednesday's G3 Craven Stakes.

We never saw Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) run at three, the year he was drafted in at Coolmore Stud to replace the subfertile George Washington (Ire), and it's hard to believe that it has been 19 years since his successful juvenile campaign, which included victory in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere. His exciting son Rashabar (Ire) was second to Camille Pissarro (Ire) in that same race last year after winning the Coventry Stakes and also finishing runner-up in the Prix Morny. In a big weekend for Manton, Brian Meehan will saddle Rashabar as favourite for the Greenham in the colours made famous by Robert Sangster.

Only one Australian-bred will line up for the G1 Sydney Cup on Saturday morning – that's Godolphin's Zardozi (Aus), and even he is by a British sire in Kingman (GB). Apart from two New Zealand-breds, the 20-strong field is otherwise entirely made up of horses born and bred in Europe. Stop me if you've heard this one before. Meanwhile, the G1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes in part two of Sydney's Championships features an intriguing clash between Via Sistina (Ire) and Dubai Honour (Ire).

That similar theme is played out in Keeneland's GI Jenny Wiley Stakes on Saturday evening, in which Simon and Ed Crisford have the favourite, Choisya (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) and their Newmarket neighbour Roger Varian is represented by Jabaara (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}). Five of their seven rivals are either British- or Irish-bred but trained in America. It will be interesting to see how this scenario might change in the coming years if the tariffs remain in place.

One of this column's favourite little troupers, Brave Emperor (Ire) (Sioux Nation), returns to action in Germany on Sunday in the G3 Kalkmann-Frujahrs-Meile. It will be good to see him back after he was brought down mid-race during the chaotic meeting that was the Amir's Sword Festival in Doha in February. The Archie Watson-trained five-year-old is the perfect syndicate horse for the Middleham Park Racing: he runs often and always with great credit. Here's to him landing a sixth group win.

Over at Longchamp, Yeguada Centurion's homebred Darius Cen (Fr), from the first crop of Persian King (Ire), will be one to watch in the G3 Prix de Fontainebleau, a race won easily by his sire en route to him winning the Poule d'Essai des Poulains back in 2019. Trainer Victoria Head also saddles the unbeaten TDN Rising Star Tito Mo Cen (Ire) (Uncle Mo), a half-brother to Group 1 winner Ramatuelle (Justify), in the G3 Prix Noailles later on the card for the same owner-breeder. There is no Aidan O'Brien runner there to scupper Head's plans but we do like the amusingly named Aidan's Phone (Fr) (Prince Gibraltar {Ire}), whose moniker was reportedly inspired by the Ballydoyle trainer's tendency to phone a friend as soon as one of his many winners has crossed the line.

Equally enticing is the return of the Aga Khan Studs' Zarigana (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) in the G3 Prix de la Grotte. She was beaten no more than a wafer-thin mint – a phrase still guaranteed to have Monty Python fans rolling in the aisles – by stable-mate Vertical Blue (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac and should ensure that her trainer Francis Graffard continues his Mullins-like domination of the French black-type races this season.

 

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