Geoff Oldroyd will launch
a two-pronged assault on Lingfield Park's valuable fixture this Saturday,
February 22, which offers two Listed Fast-Track Qualifiers and £173,500 in
prize money.
Yorkshire-based Oldroyd
will saddle his stable star Ladies Are Forever in the £45,000 Listed
Compare Bookmakers At bookmakers.co.uk Cleves Stakes (4.00pm, 16 entries) over
six furlongs, a Fast-Track Qualifier for the £150,000 bookmakers.co.uk
All-Weather Sprint on Good Friday, April 18.
The six-year-old mare
captured last year's renewal by a length and then set a new five-furlong course
record of 56.67s on Polytrack in the Listed Hever Sprint Stakes at Lingfield
Park in March.
She went on to win the
Group Three Summer Stakes over six furlongs at York in July and subsequently
finished seventh in two Group One contests over five furlongs, the Nunthorpe
Stakes and Prix de l'Abbaye.
Oldroyd reported:
"Ladies Are Forever is definitely going for the Compare Bookmakers At
bookmakers.co.uk Cleves Stakes on Saturday.
"Her preparation has
gone nicely and I would say she will probably be fit enough to win, but it will
sharpen her up as well. She has strengthened up for the break and is only five
and a half really because she was such a late foal.
"She ran some nice
races in those Group Ones last year, not beaten far, and I think she would have
been nearer had they been over a bit further.
"She loves the track
at Lingfield and still holds the track record over five furlongs. The idea is
to qualify her for Finals Day and she will go back to Lingfield in March for
another qualifier and you would be hopeful she would be able to win one of them.
"I would be quite
hopeful on Saturday, but it depends what turns up. It will be interesting to
see if Hoof It runs because he is a full-brother to Ladies Are Forever
and I don't think they have ever clashed.
"Obviously, Reg
(Bond, owner) bred them both and the mare had a full-sister to Ladies Are
Forever this week and is off to Frankel next, so it could be a big week for the
family."
Also among the entries for
the Compare Bookmakers At bookmakers.co.uk Cleves Stakes is Haydock Park Sprint
Cup third Hoof It (Mick Easterby), Tarooq (David Barron), who holds the
six-furlong Polytrack course record at Lingfield Park following his victory in
December, and Hawkeyethenoo (Jim Goldie).
Karl Burke has entered
recent course and distance scorer Rivellino, while Andrew Balding could
saddle lightly-race four-year-old Absolutely So.
Alfred Hutchinson enjoyed the biggest
success of his career at Lingfield Park when annexing the £45,000 Download The
Ladbrokes Handicap on January 24, breaking the seven-furlong Polytrack course
record in the process. The six-year-old is among 20 entries for the £45,000 Ladbrokes
Handicap (4.30pm) over the same distance on Saturday.
Oldroyd added:
"Alfred Hutchinson will also run on Saturday and is in great nick. He
obviously loves it around Lingfield, but hopefully he will get a decent draw.
"He won nicely last
time and is a horse who is a lot better than you think. If he gets too keen, he
just plugs on but if you can switch him off in the first furlong, he has a
right turn of foot. He is a good horse when things drop right."
Alfred Hutchinson could
renew his rivalry with Grey Mirage (Marco Botti), who came out on top
when the pair clashed in a Fast-Track Qualifier on January 11, and course
specialist Brocklebank (Simon Dow).
Lingfield Park's
seven-race card on Saturday gets underway at 1.40pm and also features the
10-furlong £45,000 Listed coral.co.uk Winter Derby Trial (2.50pm, 17 entries).
The winner is guaranteed a free start in the £200,000 Coral Easter Classic over
the same course and distance on Good Friday, April 18.
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)
The dedicated website www.awchampionships.co.uk has more details,
including the leaderboards and the twice weekly blog from Luke Morris.
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