Reflecting on solid Ayr form
We got early hint of star filly’s ability
LIKE many observers I was blown away by the performance of Quiet Reflection in Haydock’s Group 2 Sandy Lane Stakes on Saturday.
To say the Karl Burke horse won easily is an understatement.
When Dougie Costello brought the filly on the outside with a run and pressed the button she simply flew and won going away by three and three quarter lengths from Donjuan Triumphant, who is no slouch.
Quiet Reflection really caught the eye last September when winning the Listed Harry Roseberry Stakes at Ayr in a similar fashion to her won on Saturday.
And since then she has captured two Group 3s – the Cornwallis Stakes at Newmarket last October and the Prix Sigy at Chantilly in April – and on Saturday she added a Group 2.
Next stop is the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot on June 17 and she will take all the beating in that contest.
It really is encouraging to see an Ayr winner go onto great things and as I wrote said the other week in this column it process the old adage that ‘ Ayr form is good form’.
And to underline that it’s well worth noting that Saturday’s runner up Donjuan Triumphant won the Nursery Handicap on the card the very same day that Quiet Reflection won the Harry Rosebery.
Richard Fahey’s colt was giving Quiet Reflection six pounds at Haydock and is 14- 1 for the Commonwealth Cup with the Burke horse at 4- 1.
I am confident that Quiet Reflection will come out on top again and after that connections will no doubt be planning a raid on British Champions Day later in the year.
THE amazing season that Keith Dalgleish is enjoying received another boost on Saturday at Chester when course specialist Sound Advice won the valuable seven and a half furlong handicap.
It gives the stable its 27th win of the campaign and takes their prizemoney to over £ 260,000 for the season so far.
I wrote last month that I fancied Keith to chalk up 100 winners for the year and while many thought I’d lost my marbles I firmly believe he will post that quite extraordinary total.
He will have to keep churning out the successes throughout the summer but I see no reason why he won’t and he’s already a couple ahead of where he was at this time last year and he went on to record 75 winners so he could well reach that magical ton.
It really has been a fairytale as it was only back in 2011 that Keith took up training and since then he has saddled more than 300 winners.
His Belstane base is now home to more than 100 horses and there is no shortage of owners wanting him to train their horses.
THERE was shock news this week when it was announced that one of the north’s top owners David Armstrong was taking his 30 strong string of horses away from Richard Fahey and spreading them among four trainers – Ann Duffield, Michael Dods, David O’Meara and Brian Ellison.
Some of the horses owned by Armstrong over the years have included the Group 1 winners Mayson and Garswood and the famous red colours were often seen in the winners enclosure at Ayr.
A philosophical Fahey said simply that “all good things come to an end”.
I think it will only be a temporary setback for the North Yorkshire yard who will soon bounce back and be firing on all cylinders.