Doyle’s Newmarket double eases blow of 10-day ban
Suspension for Eclipse ride ‘100 per cent fair’ Crowley lands treble on July meeting’s first day
Two Group Two winners, Cardsharp and Hawkbill, and a 10-day whip ban for James Doyle might have been considered something of an up and down first day of the Moet & Chandon July meeting, but the jockey had no complaints.
Hawkbill, nominally Charlie Appleby’s second-string, was awash with sweat, but made all and then bravely pulled out more when challenged by stablemate Frontiersman at the furlong pole, to win the Princess of Wales’s Stakes by three quarters of a length.
“People thought Hawkbill was a pacemaker,” said Appleby, “but he is dangerous when he gets an uncontested lead. Frontiersman could go for the King George. He’s still wandering around a bit. They came up the middle today and he might be better round a rail on a turn.”
The hard-fought victory of Cardsharp in the Aquana July Stakes had his trainer Mark Johnston rueing having run him in the Norfolk Stakes, over five furlongs, rather than the Coventry over six at Royal Ascot. The colt stayed on well to beat US Navy Flag with Coventry winner Rajasinghe in third.
“We were undecided over the trip,” explained Johnston. “At Beverley he looked tired at the end of five, but the Norfolk proved that [theory] wrong. We’ve seen today, he was better for six.”
Rajasinghe was flying at the finish and will step up to seven furlongs. “The end-game is a mile in next year’s Guineas,” said trainer Richard Spencer, eyeing Goodwood. “The lads bought him to have fun not to be looked at, so he won’t be locked up.”
Raheen House earned a quote of 12-1 for the St Leger when staying on strongly to win the Bahrain Trophy after an end-to-end gallop, while Champion Jockey Jim Crowley went one better than Doyle with a first day treble at odds of 479-1.
Doyle’s morning visit to the British Horseracing Authority’s disciplinary committee, triggered under the totting up process by his ride on Barney Roy in the Eclipse, earned him a 15-day ban, starting a week today, with five days deferred.
Apart from missing a busy period of racing the one big event he sits out is the King George, but he will be back for Goodwood. He described the ban as “100 per cent fair”. He said: “The entry point is 21 days, I got 15, with five deferred. I can’t complain. The rules are very fair.”
The Godolphin revival, which began at Ascot, continued apace yesterday. Apart from the Princess of Wales’s 1-2, Spring Cosmos made a winning debut in the fillies’ maiden over six furlongs and they can enjoy further success today.
Wuheida, Godolphin’s winner of last season’s Prix Marcel Boussac on only her second start, looks the class act as she makes her belated reappearance in the Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes after a deepseated muscle problem caused her to miss the spring.
The other Godolphin runner, Arabian Hope, seems to be improving fast and, though this is a big step up in class, she nevertheless offers Josephine Gordon her best chance yet of a Group One winner.