Toormore’s gutsy win augurs well for Godolphin

DUBAI — Toormore’s gutsy win in the G2 Mile at Sandown Park (UK) on Friday augurs well for Godolphin in the forthcoming feature mile races on the British calendar, particularly as Belardo, another carrying the famous Royal Blue colours, also finished strong from a long way back for an encouraging fourth, a Press release said.

Trainer Richard Hannon, who had felt Toormore would need the run, was pleasantly surprised and quickly earmarked Newbury’s G1 Lockinge Stakes and the G1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot as immediate targets for this ultra-consistent and hardy miler.

But this has been an eventful and informative week on the Global scene. Two major Classic contenders emerged in the shape of the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Midterm, who will be aiming for the G1 Investec Derby, and the John Gosden-trained So Mi Dar, targeting the G1 Investec Oaks, while the triumph of Werther in Hong Kong’s G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup on Sunday stamped him as an international campaigner in the making.

It would have been disappointing had Midterm (by Galileo, out of Midday) not been able to gallop. But history shows that impeccable bloodlines are no guarantee of racecourse prowess, so it came as welcome relief to see this athletic colt get the better of Algometer at the end of a prolonged battle to land Sandown’s G3 Classic Trial and retain his unbeaten record.

Stoute reported Midterm to be quite lazy at home, but the fight and determination the colt displayed in the final furlong brings him into contention for Epsom on the first Saturday in June.

So Mi Dar, a filly by Dubawi out of Dar Re Mi, is another blue blood, so it was also pleasing to see her get the better of the colts and establish her Classic claims in Epsom’s Investec Classic Trial, a conditions race that curiously does not attract the interest of owners.