Key events
Late money for Tony Montana here, and they are off and running in the 2.42 at York …
YORK 3.45, YORKSHIRE CUP, GROUP TWO, 1M 5F 188YD
Rebel’s Romance remains a solid favourite at around 6-4 for his first run beyond 12 furlongs, though strictly speaking he was a little below his best in the Sheema Classic at Meydan last time.
It’s worth reliving his latest triumph in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, though, as he was the first horse ever to win the race twice in non-consecutive years.
Continuous, meanwhile, is still struggling to return to his three-year-old form in 2023, when his narrow win in the St Leger was the major highlight.
Epic Poet and Continuous were both in the field for the Dubai Gold Cup at Meydan in early April, when Epic Poet ran a fine race to finish third.
Next up here on the Knavesmire is a competitive 10-furlong handicap, with Karl Burke’s four-year-old Thunder Run currently a narrow 5-1 favourite to bounce back to his winning form over a mile at the big August meeting here last year, when he was racing off a 4lb lower mark. Jane Chapple-Hyam’s Salamanca is close behind in the market at 11-2, he is unexposed after just six runs and was a winner on the all-weather at Newcastle last time out. This is highly competitive though and while my pick DEBORA’S DREAM is one of the outsiders at 20-1, I would not be hugely surprised to see him outrun those odds. He ran well enough from a high draw at Chester last time, needed a run or two to find his best form last year and was a winner off a 1lb lower mark at Sandown last summer.
Osbornes target Preakness upset with Heart Of Honor
The Group One Lockinge Stakes at Newbury is the highlight of the domestic action tomorrow but this also has the potential to be a historic weekend for the father-and-daughter team of Jamie and Saffie Osborne, as the Lambourn trainer prepares to saddle Heart Of Honor in the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the US Triple Crown, at Pimlico on Saturday.
Heart Of Honor will be Saffie Osborne’s first ever ride in America, but her father was famously within a few inches of victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita in 2014 with his former stable star, Toast Of New York and the pair have high hopes for a big run from Heart Of Honor in tomorrow’s Grade One contest.
Heart Of Honor was beaten a nose by Admire Daytona in the UAE Derby at Meydan last time, when he showed admirable battling qualities all the way to the line.
“It will be a new experience for me, but I’ve spoken to plenty of people about the track and the opposition,” Saffie Osborne told the Press Association on Friday.
“It’s amazing how many people have been willing to help and Sophie Doyle, James’s sister who now rides in America, she was our apprentice when I was only eight and has been helping me out.
“Michael Hills also put me in touch with Steve Cauthen and there’s no man better to speak to about American racing. I’ve been doing plenty of homework and hopefully it will stand me in good stead.”
Heart Of Honor is one of nine runners in the Preakness, which is due off at a minute past midnight BST. Journalism, the runner-up when favourite for the Kentucky Derby earlier this month, is currently quoted at around even-money to win by British bookies, with Heart Of Honour priced up as an outsider at 25-1.
“He ran some huge races in Dubai, but the UAE Derby was a fairly gutting experience which doesn’t get any easier even now,” Osborne said. “But we wouldn’t be doing this and going to America if we didn’t think he had a chance. Anyone would love to have a runner in an American Classic but we’re not there to say we’ve had a runner, we want to go and try to win it.”
Osborne, now 23, was watching at home in Lambourn when Toast Of New York was beaten by a nose in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita.
“I always remember Dad doing an interview last year about the race 10 years on,” Osborne said, “and at the end of it he kind of got emotional and said he wants another like Toast so he can try to experience it all again.
“I was always hoping Dad would have another Toast Of New York and people always ask jockeys which races would you like to win and everyone says the Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, but there’s a part of me that would love to win a Breeders’ Cup Classic, just for a bit of recompense for Dad.”
Secret Hideaway has been introduced into the Queen Mary betting at 14-1 by Paddy Power/Betfair, while the latter firm reports that runner-up Harry’s Girl was matched for £7,147 on the exchange at the basement price of 1.01. Ouch, for the backers at any rate.
2.10 YORK RESULT: Secret Hideaway springs 33-1 surprise
1. SECRET HIDEAWAY 33-1, 2. Harry’s Girl 15-8, 3. Love Olivia 2-1.
Saucy Jane and Guernsey Lady fast away, Love Olivia prominent too .. now Harry’s Girl comes with a run and Secret Hideaway making ground on the far side … the outsider is picking them up, sweeps into the lead and Secret Hideaway grabs the win at 33-1…
Off and running in the Marygate Fillies’ Stakes …
This race was first run in 2005, incidentally, since when two winners – Ceiling Kitty in 2012 and Signora Cabello in 2018 – have followed up in the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot.
The runners are going to post for the opener here on the Knavesmire, the Marygate Fillies’ Stakes over five furlongs. Harry’s Girl (Richard Hannon/Tom Marquand) heads the betting on 7-4, with Love Olivia (Karl Burke/David Egan) next in at 5-2 for Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing operation. Saucy Jane (Jack Morland/Sam James) and ETERNAL SOLACE (Ollie Sangster/Trevor Whelan) are fancied too at 11-2 and 13-2 respectively and it’s 20-1 bar the four.
Constitution Hill scratched from Ascot Gold Cup
Many of the owners and trainers here this week will be hoping their horses run well enough to consider sending them to Royal Ascot, but one horse that will definitely not be heading to Berkshire next month is Constitution Hill, the 2023 Champion Hurdle winner, who has been scratched from the Gold Cup, the Royal meeting’s feature event, on 19 June.
Constitution Hill famously went unbeaten in his first 10 starts and is seen as one of the finest hurdlers of all time, but his career over jumps has unravelled since mid-March, with two falls, at Cheltenham and Aintree, and then a lacklustre display at Punchestown earlier this month.
His entry for the Gold Cup was somewhat unexpected to begin with, and the eight-year-old will now be turned out for the summer ahead of an expected return to action over hurdles in the autumn.
Preamble
Good afternoon from the Knavesmire, where after two days with Epsom Classic trials at the top of the bill, attention turns to the stayers and the intriguing prospect of Rebel’s Romance – arguably the most under-appreciated horse in training, among British racing fans at least – stepping up beyond a mile-and-a-half for the first time.
Charlie Appleby’s seven-year-old is one of the biggest money-earners in global racing history, and already a member of the elite club of horses with earnings of more than £10m. His 16 wins from 24 starts include two victories in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, He has notched two wins in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, a victory in the Sheema Classic at Meydan – the world’s joint-richest race on turf – and seven Group One or Grade One successes in all.
All seven, though, were recorded at a variety of high-profile tracks and meetings around the world, and his only Group-race win in Britain was a Group Three at Goodwood in July 2022. That could well change this afternoon, as he is the likely favourite for the Group Two Yorkshire Cup despite the question mark over the trip, and a victory at 14 furlongs would open up a range of new options for Appleby’s evergreen seven-year-old.
Today’s feature should be a decent test, despite the small field, as all five runners are currently priced up at single-figure odds. Continuous, the 2023 St Leger winner; Epic Poet, third in a Grade One in Dubai last time; and Sweet William, runner-up behind the high-class Kyprios in last season’s Goodwood Cup all have the form to win, even if Rebel’s Romance’s stamina holds up.
The going on the Knavesmire remains good to firm, good in places, and the action is underway at 2.10 with the Marygate Fillies’ Stakes, something of a trial for the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot next month.