Exciting Division Headlines the Thoroughbred Daily News EBF Novice Stakes

[Wandering Eyes]

The team at Thoroughbred Daily News is proud to sponsor, in association with the British EBF, the opening race of Yarmouth's three-day Eastern Festival on Tuesday. Nine two-year-olds will go to post for the six-furlong Thoroughbred Daily News EBF Novice Stakes, headed by Division, the sole previous winner in the line-up for James Doyle and William Haggas.

A running-on second when making his debut at Windsor last month, the son of Kingman showed the benefit of that experience when justifying short odds at Haydock next time, making all to win by three lengths in the style of a colt going places in a hurry.

That breakthrough success also saw Division become the third winner from as many runners out of the Listed scorer and G3 Summer Stakes third Pepita (Sir Prancealot), with the others including last year's G2 Lowther Stakes heroine Celandine, also by Kingman. Whereas Celandine sports the silks of owner-breeder Rockcliffe Stud, Division was an expensive yearling purchase for Wathnan Racing when fetching 800,000gns at Tattersalls October Book 1.

A Group 1 entry in the Middle Park suggests this colt is thought capable of rewarding that investment somewhere down the line, albeit he probably won't need to improve to double his career tally on Tuesday. For context, that performance at Haydock earned him a Timeform rating of 89p, whereas his chief rival on form, King Of Chaos (Showcasing), is rated just 72.

At least the form shown by King Of Chaos last time looks better now than it did when he was declared on Sunday morning. Beaten less than five lengths in a Salisbury novice back in June, after pulling too hard, he finished behind none other than Zavateri (Without Parole), Sunday's unbeaten winner of the G1 National Stakes. The fourth and fifth from that race have also won since, while George Scott will be hoping a recent gelding operation can eke out further improvement from this breeze-up buy.

Of the rest, Cheveley Park's Lifeguard (Mehmas) and Shadwell's Shahik (Showcasing) both need to leave behind underwhelming debut efforts, likewise Fine Art Dealer (Blue Point), a stablemate of Division, and James Fanshawe trainee Obsidian Verse (Lope Y Fernandez), who is out of a full-sister to the stable's multiple Group 1-winning sprinter The Tin Man (Equiano).

Then there's the two newcomers in the line-up, Ballybunion (Footstepsinthesand) and My Shagaf (Sioux Nation). My Shagaf, the only filly in the field, was picked up for 100,000gns at Tattersalls October Book 2 and is out of a half-sister to the G2 Queen Mary Stakes heroine Ceiling Kitty (Red Clubs), while Ballybunion is a half-brother to the Listed scorer and Queen Mary third Maria Branwell (James Garfield). He was a 68,000gns purchase at the Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale.

Four years ago this novice went the way of Light Infantry (Fast Company), a six-and-a-half-length winner on his racecourse bow. Trained back then by David Simcock in Newmarket, he went on to be placed in five Group 1s on European soil, before moving to Australia where he's won a pair of top-level prizes for Ciaron Maher under the name of Light Infantry Man.

It all started for him in the delightful surroundings of Great Yarmouth, like so many other top-class performers both before and since. From the legendary Dubai Millennium in 1998 to Europe's champion two-year-old Shadow Of Light just last year, you never know where those formative steps on a racecourse might lead.

Only time will tell there's another superstar lurking in Tuesday's line-up but, with the weather looking set fair, it's guaranteed to be a terrific day to kick off the popular Eastern Festival. Why not come along for the seaside air, the fish and chips and, of course, to see our very own Alayna Cullen Birkett present the prize to the winners of the Thoroughbred Daily News EBF Novice Stakes?

The post Exciting Division Headlines the Thoroughbred Daily News EBF Novice Stakes appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article