Weekend Review – Scintillating Centauri, Turner On Top & Meade Advertises His Skills

[Wandering Eyes]

The “Girls” team and in particular Hayley Turner grabbed the headlines on Saturday when the team lifted the Shergar Cup and competition stalwart Turner won the Silver saddle from “Magic man” Moreria. Hollie Doyle got the team off to a flyer in the first when Clive Cox’s Tis Marvellous won snugly from Gracious John.

Hayley Turner won the Shergar Cup Mile aboard Via Serendipity who was prominent throughout and found plenty when asked inside the final furlong. This victory left the girl’s in a strong position but Moreria pushed them all the way as he landed the final two races. Firstly, aboard Berkshire Blue who landed a late plunge despite wandering all the way up the straight. Green Power landed the last under another fine ride from Moreira and had Hayley not finished second on Roundhay Park, then silver saddle would have been going home with the Brazilian.

“I’m going to wake up in a minute. I can’t believe it,” said Turner

The Shergar Cup is all about the jockeys but trainer Andrew Balding deserves a special mention as the had a three-timer at Ascot with Cleonte, runaway winner Genetics and the aforementioned Berkshire Blue.

Teams:

The Girls: 76

 

Europe: 70

 

Rest of the World: 48

 

Great Britain and Ireland: 46

 

 

Riders (Top Five)

Hayley Turner: 39

Joao Moreira: 38

Pers-Anders Graberg: 25

Andrasch Starke: 25

Hollie Doyle: 22

At Haydock, there was an unforgettable performance from Hugo Palmer’s Unforgettable Filly in the Listed Dick Hern Stakes. Ben Curtis held the four-year-old up in the early stages and was pushed into the lead at the two-furlong marker to eventually win by an impressive eight lengths. It had been a disappointing campaign up to this for the filly but if she can reproduce a performance like this then she’ll win more races this year.

The Group 3 Rose Of Lancaster Stakes was the feature race at Haydock and Richard Kingscote stole the race from the front on the Tom Dascombe trained Teodoro. The son of Teofilo was allowed to dictate things from the front and took full advantage from the consistent Brorocco.

I think this was in truth a weak Group 3 event, where the fancied three-year-old runners all disappointed and it’s not a race to follow.

Main Edition

The Group 3 Sweet Solera Stakes went the way of Mark Johnston’s Main Edition who was bouncing back from a below-par effort at Newmarket in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes. P J McDonald’s mount made all and confirmed Albany form with Godolphin’s Le Pelosa. Richard Hannon’s Arjar and John Gosden’s Pennywhistle were both bitterly disappointing in behind.

On the International front, there was Grade 1 action at Arlington Park and Johnny Velazquez took both. The high-profile double started with Carrick showing much-improved form in the Secretariat Stakes. Thirteen three-year-olds went to post and five of these were trained in Ireland but best of the raiding contingent was Dermot Weld’s Bandua who finished third at 40/1.

Sistercharlie completed the double when staying on strongly inside the final furlong to land the Beverly D Stakes and incredibly Chad Brown trained the first three home in this Garde 1 contest. The former French-trained filly Sistercharlie was winning her third Grade 1 of the season and looks like one of the leading fillies in training.

Alpha Centauri

Speaking of leading fillies, at Deauville the star three-year-old filly of this season, Alpha Centauri won her fourth successive Group 1 in the Prix Jacques Le Marois. Jessica Harrington’s stable star was prominent throughout and kicked on at the two-furlong marker to ultimately win by an easy two and a half lengths.

Afterwards, Harrington said:

“She’s an amazing filly. I must admit, bringing her here to take on colts and older horses, I thought I must be mad. But then again, I felt we might as well keep her going and it was a fantastic performance”.

In Germany, the Group 1 Preis Von Berlin was the feature race at Hoppegarten where Godolphin’s Best Solution landed the spoils under Pat Cosgrave. The Saeed Bin Suroor trained son of Kodiac seems to have found a new level of form this season in Meydan and back in Europe where he made it 2-2 this season.

The final Group one this weekend was at the Curragh where a bullish Martyn Meade had been quoted as saying his Advertise wouldn’t be beaten. In fairness, his prophecy was correct as the son of Showcasing dug deep late on to fend off the strong challenge from Aidan O’Brien’s battalion, principally So Perfect. Frankie Dettori was the first jockey at work in the Phoenix Stakes but his mount responded generously.

An overjoyed Meade said:

“I’m very pleased with him, it’s great, and maybe we’ll step him up to seven furlongs now.

“We’ll give him a bit of a break and then go for the Dewhurst or something like that I suppose. It seems logical and he’ll get further”.

Considering how he kept galloping, a tilt at next years 2000 Guineas will no doubt be on connections minds.

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