The two WIN & YOU'RE
IN contests at Lingfield Park this Saturday, November 16, have attracted
high-quality and competitive fields.
Both winners of the two
Listed races will automatically qualify and gain free entry for Europe's
richest All-Weather raceday, the £1-million All-Weather Championships Finals,
at Lingfield Park, on Good Friday, April 18.
A maximum field of 12 goes
to post for the £37,000 Best Odds At bookmakers.co.uk Golden Rose Stakes
(3.10pm) over six furlongs, which offers a place in the £150,000
bookmakers.co.uk Sprint Final over the same course and distance on All-Weather
Championships Finals Day.
Several notable sprinters
line up including this season's Group One Haydock Sprint Cup fourth Hawkeyethenoo
(Jim Goldie), 2011 Group One Prix de l'Abbaye winner Tangerine Trees (Bryan
Smart) and Tiddliwinks (Kevin Ryan), successful in the 2012 Group Two
Duke of York Stakes.
Trainer Dean Ivory is
enjoying his best ever year with 35 winners and over £300,000 in prize money.
He will be represented in the Best Odds At bookmakers.co.uk Golden Rose Stakes
by Lancelot du Lac, who will be ridden by Jim Crowley.
The three-year-old son of
Shamardal was in tremendous form over the summer, with wins in competitive
handicaps at York (twice) and Newmarket. He disappointed on his latest start at
Doncaster in October but Ivory believes the ground was to blame on that
occasion and is looking forward to stepping his charge up to Listed company.
Ivory, based at Radlett in
Hertfordshire, said today: "It was down to the ground last time out and
that is the only excuse. The ground was diabolical and Lancelot du Lac isn't a
horse that will go in it at all.
"He hasn't run on the
all-weather before so I am a bit nervous about that, but we do train on the
all-weather at home so I would like to think he can handle it well.
"He was favourite for
the Coral Sprint at York and we missed the cut by one. I really fancied him
that day and the ground would have been ideal. Then when we did run him next
time at Doncaster it all went wrong. Hence, that is why he didn't run in the
Wentworth Stakes at Doncaster last Saturday as the ground was not right for
him.
"He worked nicely
this morning and I am very pleased with him. It is just a question of whether
he can handle the surface on Saturday. I think he definitely is good enough for
Listed class, although in this sort of grade it would have been nice if he had
run around the track before.
"I am not too worried
about his draw (10) as he likes to come from off the pace. I would have
preferred to have been drawn in six, seven or eight but Jim is a very good
jockey and we'll just have to see how he manages it.
"It was not
originally my game at all to him keep going on the all-weather throughout the
winter but it is a possibility now with the nicer races around.
"I guess if he
handles the surface on Saturday and there are some nicer races to be had, we
could have a look as the ground probably wouldn't suit him on the turf in the
spring. We could bring him back later to the turf next year.
"So, if he were to
win on Saturday and qualify for the finals, we would have to think about what
we do in between."
Also featuring among the
dozen starters for the Listed six-furlong event are Godolphin's Listed-placed Hoodna
(Saeed bin Suroor) and last year's winner Ballista (Tom Dascombe).
The other WIN & YOU'RE
IN contest on Saturday is the 10-furlong £37,000 coral.co.uk Churchill Stakes
(2.35pm). The winner of this race will gain a place in the £200,000 Coral
Middle Distance Final, run over the same course and distance on All-Weather
Championships Finals Day.
A field of 10 for the
coral.co.uk Churchill Stakes is headed by Highland Knight (Andrew
Balding) who was successful in the Group Three Darley Stakes at Newmarket in
October, when he prevailed by a short-head from the re-opposing Tales Of
Grimn (Richard Fahey).
John Gosden is represented
by Listed-placed Dick Doughtywylie, owned by his wife Rachel Hood, while
Sugar Boy (Marco Botti) won the Group Three Classic Trial at Sandown
Park back in April. Other interesting contenders include the Polytrack
specialist Prince Alzain (Gerard Butler), a winner at Wolverhampton on
November 7, and Bancnuanaheireann (Michael Appleby), who was successful
in a competitive nine-furlong handicap at Newmarket last month.
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