Crystal offers up real Hope

CRYSTAL Hope cannot be ignored in the British Stallion Studs EBF Upavon Fillies’ Stakes at Salisbury.

Sir Michael Stoute’s threeyear-old has been off the track since May, but she is the most interesting horse in this nine-runner field.

The daughter of Nathaniel looked a potential topnotcher at Sandown in April when she surged three lengths clear in a hot novice fillies’ stakes that featured Musidora winner Give And Take.

But it was her run over a mile and a quarter at Newbury on May 19 which deserves even closer scrutiny.

Crystal Hope was perhaps unhinged by a soporific early gallop in a Listed race that was competed on rattlingfast ground, but she still finished third as the 2-1 favourite.

On the face of it, Stoute might have been a touch disappointed by that run, though subsequent events would suggest that was actually a pretty good effort.

The winner that day, Sea Of Class, is now a Classic heroine, while runner-up Athena claimed the Grade One Belmont Oaks in July.

Stoute’s inmate, a halfsister to Crystal Ocean, gets weight from all but two rivals in the Upavon Fillies’ Stakes, in a race in which threeyear-olds have a fine record.

And with Ryan Moore in the saddle, there is an awful lot to like about her chances of winning this before stepping up in class.

Crantock Bay should not be too far away in the British EBF Molson Coors Novice Stakes.

George Scott’s young colt caught the eye on his debut at Ascot in July when he flashed home for second place behind Production, beaten a neck.

That was a perfectly decent effort from the two-year-old son of Havana Gold, who was going nowhere quickly until the penny finally dropped.