Battle of Britain (an update)
June 12th 2008 08:38
Seachange will be retired to stud at the completion of her European campaign and will be sent to Zabeel. She is due to arrive back in New Zealand on the 7th of September.
Seachange has been nominated for two sprint events in the upcoming carnival at Royal Ascot. Her main target has always been the Group One Golden Jubilee over 1200 on June 21; but has also been nominated for the (recently reinstated) Group One King’s Stand Stakes on the Tuesday, five days prior.
The 1000m King’s Stand Stakes is an insurance policy which will be implemented only if the stable believes that she will strike a rain affected track for the Golden Jubilee. Seachange is far less effective on wet ground. Trainer Graeme Sanders is very pleased with her condition and preparation and adds that she is much happier in England than she was in Dubai.
Looking at a long range forecast for London confuses the issue. Mostly fine until next Wednesday, then three days of light rain is anticipated. Will she, won't she?
The Seachange team are greatly encouraged by the outstanding form that has followed the Group One Duty Free (as I previously highlighted) when she finished a close sixth.
The Group One Falmouth Stakes, a mile event for fillies and mares during the Newmarket July carnival is also being considered as a strong option.
Magnus goes straight into quarantine after the King’s Stand Stakes and will return here for stud duties at Eliza Park in Victoria. Last year in the King’s Stand the Australian horses dominated with Miss Andretti defeating Dandy Man by 1 1/2 lengths (in new course record time) with Magnus third and Takeover Target a half length behind in fourth place.
Trainer Peter Moody believes that last year he had Magnus underdone for the King’s Stand, and overcooked for the Golden Jubilee. This time with only one target he feels he has him spot on. Trainer Joe Janiak considers Takeover Target better suited this year to the 1200m of the Golden Jubilee Stakes.
Australian horses have won three of the past five King’s Stand Stakes. It was Choisir who was successful in 2003w whose victory created great interest in travelling our sprinters to England. Takeover Target won in 2006, and Miss Andretti in 2007.
(photo: Getty Images)
There is a minor controversy as English trainers get testy at the prospect of another possible defeat at the hands of our Australian invaders. Questions posed as to whether Takeover Target should even have been invited after his scratching after testing positive in Hong Kong. Even Peter Moody has come under fire and criticism for turning up in casual wear of shorts, sunglasses and training shoes. The banter is similar to that expected before an Ashes series, but this time there is no benefit of sowing seeds of doubt in the mind of a possibly fragile sportsman. The trainers will wear the insults and innuendo; and their horses will compete in blissful ignorance. The trainer making the comments about Peter Moody flaunting the dress code and regulation (ho hum) is Jeremy Noseda, trainer of the brilliant 3 year old filly Fleeting Spirit, who appears to be the horse most likely to test the Australian contingent in the King’s Stand Stakes.
Joe Janiak is incensed by the slur of drug cheat allegations (the drug HPC, was legal in Australia at the time); while Peter Moody laughed it off (though no cheating allegations about Moody, only comments of bad taste and poor dress sense) and he invited the English trainers to come to Australia to compete in our rich sprints. It is not so much prizemoney that entices the Australian horses, but more so a victory in Europe. The studs to stand both Magnus and Haradasun would love to have a Group One English stakes race on the pedigree page of their first season stallions.
Peter Moody also revealed that the Australian contingent of horses in Ascot were all drug tested, and pondered whether this supposedly ‘random’ selection was a coincidence, given all the comments being made at present.
But with a final dig at those initiating ill-feeling, Moody added that the drug standards in Australia are far stricter than those in England anyway.
Meanwhile Haradasun is expected to run very well in the Group One Queen Anne Stakes on Saturday after his unlucky run in the Lockinge Stakes. He is currently sharing favouritism at 9/2.
Seachange has been nominated for two sprint events in the upcoming carnival at Royal Ascot. Her main target has always been the Group One Golden Jubilee over 1200 on June 21; but has also been nominated for the (recently reinstated) Group One King’s Stand Stakes on the Tuesday, five days prior.
The 1000m King’s Stand Stakes is an insurance policy which will be implemented only if the stable believes that she will strike a rain affected track for the Golden Jubilee. Seachange is far less effective on wet ground. Trainer Graeme Sanders is very pleased with her condition and preparation and adds that she is much happier in England than she was in Dubai.
Looking at a long range forecast for London confuses the issue. Mostly fine until next Wednesday, then three days of light rain is anticipated. Will she, won't she?
The Seachange team are greatly encouraged by the outstanding form that has followed the Group One Duty Free (as I previously highlighted) when she finished a close sixth.
The Group One Falmouth Stakes, a mile event for fillies and mares during the Newmarket July carnival is also being considered as a strong option.
Magnus goes straight into quarantine after the King’s Stand Stakes and will return here for stud duties at Eliza Park in Victoria. Last year in the King’s Stand the Australian horses dominated with Miss Andretti defeating Dandy Man by 1 1/2 lengths (in new course record time) with Magnus third and Takeover Target a half length behind in fourth place.
Trainer Peter Moody believes that last year he had Magnus underdone for the King’s Stand, and overcooked for the Golden Jubilee. This time with only one target he feels he has him spot on. Trainer Joe Janiak considers Takeover Target better suited this year to the 1200m of the Golden Jubilee Stakes.
Australian horses have won three of the past five King’s Stand Stakes. It was Choisir who was successful in 2003w whose victory created great interest in travelling our sprinters to England. Takeover Target won in 2006, and Miss Andretti in 2007.
Miss Andretti winning the King's Stand Stakes of 2007
(photo: Getty Images)
There is a minor controversy as English trainers get testy at the prospect of another possible defeat at the hands of our Australian invaders. Questions posed as to whether Takeover Target should even have been invited after his scratching after testing positive in Hong Kong. Even Peter Moody has come under fire and criticism for turning up in casual wear of shorts, sunglasses and training shoes. The banter is similar to that expected before an Ashes series, but this time there is no benefit of sowing seeds of doubt in the mind of a possibly fragile sportsman. The trainers will wear the insults and innuendo; and their horses will compete in blissful ignorance. The trainer making the comments about Peter Moody flaunting the dress code and regulation (ho hum) is Jeremy Noseda, trainer of the brilliant 3 year old filly Fleeting Spirit, who appears to be the horse most likely to test the Australian contingent in the King’s Stand Stakes.
Joe Janiak is incensed by the slur of drug cheat allegations (the drug HPC, was legal in Australia at the time); while Peter Moody laughed it off (though no cheating allegations about Moody, only comments of bad taste and poor dress sense) and he invited the English trainers to come to Australia to compete in our rich sprints. It is not so much prizemoney that entices the Australian horses, but more so a victory in Europe. The studs to stand both Magnus and Haradasun would love to have a Group One English stakes race on the pedigree page of their first season stallions.
Peter Moody also revealed that the Australian contingent of horses in Ascot were all drug tested, and pondered whether this supposedly ‘random’ selection was a coincidence, given all the comments being made at present.
But with a final dig at those initiating ill-feeling, Moody added that the drug standards in Australia are far stricter than those in England anyway.
Meanwhile Haradasun is expected to run very well in the Group One Queen Anne Stakes on Saturday after his unlucky run in the Lockinge Stakes. He is currently sharing favouritism at 9/2.
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