Ombudsman and Estrange Set to Bolster Night Of Thunder’s Lead

[Wandering Eyes]

Night Of Thunder currently sits at the top of the sire rankings for Britain and Ireland and, in a year in which he has already been represented by a first Classic winner in Desert Flower, his position could well be strengthened after Saturday with two other star performers lining up at Sandown and Haydock.

Coral's sponsorship of the Eclipse Stakes reaches its 50th anniversary this year and the Group 1 contest, which has a roll of honour including such great names as Mill Reef, Sadler's Wells, Giant's Causeway and Enable, has a total prize fund of £1 million for the first time. Godolphin's Prince of Wales's Stakes winner Ombudsman is currently the short-priced favourite to claim the £567,100 on offer to the winner.

Up at Haydock, Ombudsman's fellow Night Of Thunder four-year-old, Estrange, will line up in the G2 Lancashire Oaks for Cheveley Park Stud as she continues her climb towards the top level. Her most recent victory came at the same track in the G3 Lester Piggott Fillies' Stakes.

At a Jockey Club-organised press conference for the Eclipse, Thady Gosden, co-trainer of Ombudsman referred to the 17-day turnaround from Ascot to this Saturday as a consideration but said, “He has come out of Royal Ascot in very good order and only had one run beforehand this season at Sandown in the Brigadier Gerard when he was second to Almaqam. He hasn't had a hard season or really a hard career so far so we thought why not go for this?

“The Prince Of Wales's was a very tough race with a lot of Group 1 horses in there. He is still relatively inexperienced and that was his first run in a Group 1. We always thought he had the potential to be a horse of the class he has turned out to be and we found that out on the day at Ascot.”

Gosden added, “He had a few traffic problems at Ascot but luckily has that turn of foot that Night Of Thunder seems to give them and he picked up really well. He has plenty of speed – he's always had it. He stays a mile and a quarter which gives us plenty of options and we'll have to see if he stays any further. Sandown is a stiff mile and a quarter and we'll know more after he has run on Saturday.”

 

Night Of Thunder / ©Darley Stallions

 

Ombudsman only started racing in the June of his three-year-old season with a winning debut at Newmarket, and Estrange, too, was a later starter, appearing two months after he did, also winning first time out, at Goodwood.

Cheveley Park Stud's managing director Chris Richardson told TDN, “We're obviously delighted, having bought her as a yearling at the sales and paying a fair price for a lovely filly. I remember showing Pat Thompson a number of fillies at the sale, and she was very striking being grey, and that sort of sealed the deal really.”

It is not just a sire shared by Ombudsman and Estrange, as both were bred at James Hanly's Ballyhimikin Stud. Hanly bred Ombudsman with Jono Mills and Estrange with his long-term allies Trevor Stewart and Anthony Stroud. Estrange, who is out of an Oasis Dream half-sister to Juddmonte's St Leger winner Logician (Frankel), started her training days with the Gosdens before moving to David O'Meara's Yorkshire stable.

Richardson continued, “She showed very little as a two-year-old and was barely in training with John and Thady, and then she went back into training as a three-year-old and John was finding that she suffered from setfast, or tying up. We thought that she might benefit from being trained from the paddock, which is what David can offer in his wonderful facility up there. He got her and was very excited about her and has done a wonderful job with her.

“When she won so impressively at Goodwood we thought we had something special, and then I made the mistake of running her on too-fast ground at Yarmouth where she got in a pocket and the race didn't really unfold for her. We thought we'd put a line through it and move forward, and we are obviously delighted that she set the record straight.”

Beyond this Saturday, Estrange has Group 1 entries in the Nassau Stakes and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. 

“We discussed the Arc and sort of dreamt of a possible Arc contender,” Richardson said. “Obviously it's a very valuable race so we thought we'd make the entry and then we have it if things work out, especially if we are going to be dependent to a degree on a bit of ease in the ground, though I was encouraged when Danny Tudhope told me that he thought that the ground was less of a factor now than it was perhaps.”

He added, “Mrs T is really excited about her, which is lovely, and she has given her a big lift. We've been very lucky over the years to have some lovely fillies, including Inspiral more recently, and we hope that this filly will be able to carry the colours for a bit longer, obviously this year, and we haven't discounted her maybe staying in training next year, depending on how she does.”

Cheveley Park Stud came close at Royal Ascot a fortnight ago when Cajole, a daughter of Dubawi and Group 1 winner Persuasive, was second in the Sandringham Stakes, a race won by her dam nine years ago. And the stud did feature among the winning breeders courtesy of Humidity, who followed the example set by his full-brother Holloway Boy to win the Chesham Stakes. They are both by Cheveley Park's resident stallion Ulysses out of Sultry, by the late Pivotal. Humidity, who won on debut for his breeder at Newbury, was sold thereafter to Wathnan Racing. 

“At the end of the day we sadly don't have a Pivotal bringing in the income that he used to so we are running as more of a business now, and it was good business,” Richardson said. “But we are obviously delighted to have bred two Chesham winners, and the fact that they are both by Ulysses might help in the bigger picture a little bit going forward.”

Sultry is now in foal to Tally-Ho Stud's Mehmas. 

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