A red-hot Norfolk, Balding flying and is the Arc done and dusted already? Three things we learned this week

Three key takeaways from across the week . . .

Norfolk form looking strong

A month on from Royal Ascot and we are starting to get our first proper clues about the form of the six juvenile races.

Of the first six home in each of those contests, the Chesham and the Albany have produced subsequent novice winners but the biggest compliment by far has been paid to the Norfolk.

The fifth Aesterius won a Listed race at Sandown on Eclipse weekend before Whistlejacket, who was the odds-on Norfolk favourite but finished only fourth, rebounded to win the Group 2 July Stakes in impressive fashion on Thursday. But that same race did little to boost the form of two of Ascot's other two-year-old contests.

Whistlejacket was only fourth in the Norfolk but won with ease at Newmarket on ThursdayCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

Electrolyte, second in the Coventry, was three and a half lengths behind in fifth, while Windsor Castle scorer Ain't Nobody, the only Ascot-winning juvenile to have run since, was tailed off in last. Coventry third Columnist was also well beaten at the July meeting.

The Queen Mary has yet to produce anything of substance, with the Albany, won in remarkable style by Fairy Godmother, looking the stronger of the fillies-only contests, with Mountain Breeze, Heavens Gate and California Dreamer all running well in narrow Group 2 defeats since.

Karl Burke, though, will have every reason to feel the most excited right now and his Norfolk winner Shareholder is sure to have plenty of supporters wherever he rocks up next.
Sam Hendry

Balding form noteworthy

Much was made of a Godolphin resurgence on Saturday, but one operation in even hotter form right now is Andrew Balding’s powerful Kingsclere stable.

We are only at the halfway point of July and the stable has racked up 17 winners, a figure that puts Balding bang on course for a potentially career-best month (30 in August 2018 is the benchmark).

Andrew Balding: recorded nine winners across Friday and SaturdayCredit: Edward Whitaker

After a solid spring, Balding’s string appeared to dip a little last month with a strike-rate of 12 per cent. However, punters are unlikely to be dismissing any Balding runners with much certainty at present after a real purple patch. 

While most of the attention was on the July meeting – and the Balding-trained Fairbanks was the winner of a £100,000 handicap on Friday –the trainer made hay at York and Chester, with extra winners thrown in at Chepstow and Salisbury for good measure.

On Friday and Saturday, the yard sent out 21 runners across Britain and returned nine winners at a monster 43 per cent strike-rate. Six riders contributed to the haul, including the returning PJ McDonald and apprentices Callum Hutchinson and Baz Lewis.

In case you were wondering, Under Siege is the yard’s only runner on Monday, at Windsor in the mile novice (6.20). He’s expected to be odds-on.
Matt Butler

De Vega looks an Arc knockout

With his victory in the Grand Prix de Paris on Saturday evening, Andre Fabre’s Sosie gave another boost to what now looks a hot running of the Prix du Jockey Club.

Before his win at Longchamp, Sosie had finished third in the Jockey Club under Maxime Guyon, a length and a half clear of the Clive Cox-trained Ghostwriter, who finished a respectable third behind City Of Troy in the Coral-Eclipse next time out.

Further behind in seventh was Sunway, who was subsequently beaten just half a length in the Irish Derby and looks set to contest the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes at Ascot next.

Look De Vega: comfortable winner of the Prix du Jockey ClubCredit: GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT

Neither Sosie, Ghostwriter nor Sunway could lay a glove on the impressive two-length Jockey Club winner Look De Vega. The Carlos and Yann Lerner-trained colt is being aimed at the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp on October 6, for which he is the 4-1 ante-post favourite.

With the recent retirement of Oaks winner Ezeliya, and City Of Troy’s connections potentially favouring a tilt at the Breeders’ Cup over the Arc, Look De Vega holds increasingly strong claims of emulating Ace Impact and completing the Jockey Club and Arc double.
Joe Eccles

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