Army has run of the Mill
INVINCIBLE ARMY (Newbury, 2.50) looks a potent force to side with when he lines up in this afternoon’s Dubai Duty Free Mill Reef Stakes.
With the Ayr Gold Cup meeting abandoned due to waterlogging, Newbury now takes centre stage today and the James Tate-trained two-year-old has the form to land the feature race.
The two most recent winners of the contest have been Ribchester, Europe’s top miler this season, and Harry Angel, whose performances have put him in pole position to be crowned Europe’s top sprinter for 2017.
INVINCIBLE ARMY may never hit those heights but he is a very consistent performer who enjoyed a confidence-boosting win in the Group Three Sirenia Stakes at Kempton last time out.
That followed placed efforts in two of the season’s big two-yearold events of the summer, the Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood and Gimcrack Stakes at York.
In the latter run behind Sands of Mali on the Knavesmire, two of today’s rivals, Nebo and Staxton, were behind.
Tate has made no secret of his regard for Invincible Army. He is considering a tilt at the Breeders’ Cup in California.
The form of his rivals is largely not hidden either. Most have had enough runs to form a verdict on their level of ability with narrow Acomb Stakes runner-up James Garfield (when Lansky was back in third) and Enjazaat looking the best.
Like Enjazaat, there are other expensive juveniles running in the colours of Sheik Hamdan Al Maktoum on the Newbury card. Owen Burrows-trained ALFARQAD (Newbury, 1.15) is a son of US sire War Front, who cost $1.3million and is entered in next month’s Group One Dewhurst Stakes.
Dubawi’s son EMAARATY (Newbury, 1.45) has blue-blooded pedigree which made him even more expensive. There were plenty of eyes on the John Gosden-trained £2.73m colt on his Sandown debut, but his race was lost with a slow start and Jim Crowley then tried to educate him rather than try to rescue a lost cause. He also holds a Dewhurst entry.
TIME TO STUDY (Newmarket, nap, 3.10) has never raced over as far as the two-and-a-quarter miles he faces on the Rowley Mile in the Betfred Cesarewitch Trial Handicap. But the winner of last week’s Mallard Stakes at Doncaster has looked a very promising stayer who get better as he goes further.