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May 7th SUMMING UP
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A mixed quality race which relies on a notably small set of trainers to
provide reasonable quality. R Hannon won the race in 2002-3 with Presto
Vento & Vermilliann who were both on their second runs and went on
to be declared for the Queen Mary. In 2004 he lacked an early winning filly
and ran the flaky Spree (who won STO and ran in the Quenn Mary) and the
moderate Azuree (who finished second). Last year he ran another moderate
type with the maiden Rack And Ruin.
In summary, he is a consistent trainer who applies a set strategy each
season right through from the yearling sales to the end of turf races in
November. He runs his best early filly in this race and if she is better
than average she will then run in the Queen Mary and better races. If he
doesn't have one he will run anything he has.
Gilded clearly fits into the first category. In a season lacking
strong performances to date her win at Newmarket competes for being the
best we have seen. In line with her pedigree she has not looked a pure
speed filly and has lost ground at some point in all three runs before
showing a strong finish, notably so at Newmarket.
The ground for the race is firm and giving away up to 11lbs (to the newcomers)
she would be vulnerable to a speedy 5f type especially if there is no pacemaker.
However, she sets a strong standard that any newcomer would need to be
above average to match and her professionalism is a big plus.
The race looks very similar to 2003 in profile when P Cole & M Channon
provided the placed horses, behind Hannon's Vermilliann, with debut fillies.
Cole ran the US bred Powerful Parish who ran second and never ran again
at 2yo (not untypical for him). Here he runs Elizabeth Street who
is also US bred although sold at a British sale. She is the first 2yo runner
for the first season sire Street
Cry who has a relatively stout pedigree and proved best over 7f+
at 2yo and 10f as an older horse. If Mr Cole is running her then she is
likely to place but it wouldn't be a surprise if that were the last we
saw for a while. If he really wanted to win the race why not bring Tarkamara
here?
Mr Channon has had a runner in the last 4 editions of the event and has
three places to show for it. The 5 fillies he has run have managed a single,
minor, win at 2yo and have not generally been best suited to 5f. In 2005
he ran Dream Rose for the same
owner and she ran a solid debut to finish second. She never won and ran
in better races before failing in maidens. The same owner had Flashy Wings
with Mr Channon and he didn't bother to bring her here which fitted with
his strategy to bring second level fillies, often for prospective owner-breeders,
to this race.
However, Jaber Abdullah is clearly a favoured owner for Mr Channon and
his fillies regularly compete well above the stable average on debut. So,
we should take Pretty Majestic seriously and she is likely to be
the strongest challenger to Gilded. She will need to be better than the
fillies he has sent to the race recently to win FTO though.
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