Lingfield Park hosts an
excellent seven-race card on Saturday, February 22, with prize money of
£173,500 on offer and a pair of Fast Track Qualifiers for All-Weather
Championships Finals Day taking centre stage.
The winner of the
10-furlong £45,000 Listed coral.co.uk Winter Derby Trial (2.50pm) automatically
gains a place in the £200,000 Coral Easter Classic over the same course and
distance on Good Friday, April 18.
The 17 entries for
Saturday's race include dual US Grade Two winner Grandeur (Jeremy
Noseda), who could make his first start since coming home a close seventh in
the Group One Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin in December.
Ed Vaughan is hoping that
recent Lingfield Park winner Robin Hoods Bay can continue his rich vein
of form at the Surrey course and book his place for Championships Finals Day.
The six-year-old ran on
strongly to beat Captain Cat (Roger Charlton) and Tinshu (Derek
Haydn Jones) in the coral.co.uk Handicap over the same course and distance on
January 25, having captured the same race in 2013.
He was also runner-up,
going down by half a length to Farraaj, in the Group Three coral.co.uk Winter
Derby at the track last year.
Newmarket-based Vaughan
reported: "Robin Hoods Bay is an intended runner at Lingfield this
weekend. He ran very well in the Winter Derby last year and won last month off
a mark 8lb higher than his win in the same race 12 months earlier. He goes well
on the course and I think a mile and a quarter is his optimum trip.
"The time of his
latest win was very good, which suggests that he will be competitive in a race
like this. We had a little issue with him after he ran in September, which is
why he was off for a while, and I haven't trained him as hard this year.
"I am letting each
race bring him on this season. Luke Morris got off him after his last run and
said that there was a little bit more improvement to come from him. His
campaign is mapped out for him - he will run on Saturday, return for the Winter
Derby (March 22) and then go for Finals Day.
"It will be his third
run of the All-Weather Championships and he should hopefully qualify for Finals
Day with his rating but winning a Fast Track Qualifier would obviously guarantee
us a place.
"He is in cracking
form and hopefully he can run another big race."
Chookie Royale (Keith Dalgleish) took a
Wolverhampton conditions race by seven lengths on February 3, while Anaconda
(Tom Dascombe), Castilo Del Diablo (David Simcock) and Modernstone
(William Knight) have all won at Lingfield Park during the All-Weather
Championships.
Saturday's other Fast
Track Qualifier is the £45,000 Listed Compare Bookmakers At bookmakers.co.uk
Cleves Stakes (4.00pm) over six furlongs, which offers a berth in the £150,000
bookmakers.co.uk All-Weather Sprint on Good Friday.
A total of 16 entries
include the David Barron-trained pair of 2011 July Cup third Hitchens
and Tarooq, who holds the six-furlong course record at Lingfield Park
after beating Hawkeyethenoo (Jim Goldie) in a valuable handicap in
December.
Other contenders include Ladies
Are Forever (Geoff Oldroyd), who was seventh in two Group Ones, the Prix de
l'Abbaye and Nunthorpe Stakes, last season, Haydock Park Sprint Cup third
Hoof It (Mick Easterby), plus Forest Edge (David Evans), Rummaging
(Mick Halford) and Ballista (Tom Dascombe), who fought out the
finish to a Kempton Park conditions race on January 19.
Alfred Hutchinson has already plundered the
seven-furlong Download The Ladbrokes App Handicap at Lingfield Park on January
24 and the Geoff Oldroyd-trained six-year-old could aim for another valuable
prize in the £45,000 Ladbrokes Handicap (4.30pm) over the course and distance.
Lingfield Park scorers George Guru (Michael Attwater) and Grey Mirage
(Marco Botti) also feature among 20 entries. Racing starts at 1.40pm.
Horses qualify for the six
championships contests on £1-million All-Weather Championships Finals Day (Good
Friday, April 18, 2014) by running in a minimum of three races at Britain's
All-Weather tracks - three owned by ARC, Lingfield Park, Southwell and
Wolverhampton, and The Jockey Club's Kempton Park - between October 26 and
April 12 or else by succeeding in one of the 16 Fast Track Qualifiers.
Lingfield Park Race
Programme All-Weather Championships Finals Day, Good Friday, April 18, 2014
13.45
£50,000 coral.co.uk All-Weather Championships Apprentice Handicap (1m 4f)
14.20
£150,000 32Red.com All-Weather Fillies' & Mares' Championships Conditions
Stakes (7f)
14.55
£150,000 32Red All-Weather Three-Year-Old Championships Conditions Stakes (7f)
15.30
£150,000 32Red Casino All-Weather Marathon Championships Conditions Stakes (2m)
16.05
£150,000 bookmakers.co.uk All-Weather Sprint Championships Conditions Stakes
(6f)
16.40
£150,000 ladbrokes.co.uk All-Weather Mile Championships Conditions Stakes (1m)
17.20
£200,000 Coral Easter Classic All-Weather Middle-Distance Championships
Conditions Stakes (1m 2f)
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