World Pool Lennox Stakes
Group 2, Goodwood 16:00
£180,000 guaranteed,
3yo plus,
7f, Class 1   
Tuesday 1st August 2023

SureWIn

1 Kinross 10/11F
2 Isaac Shelby 5/2
3 Marbaan 28/1
6 ran NR: Al Suhail, Jumby, Pogo Distances: nk, 3l, ¾l.
Time: 1m 28.75s (slow by 4.45s)

Favourite backers might have felt uneasy as Kinross was locked away on the inside mid-race, but the cutaway gave Dettori the opening he needed and, once in the clear, Kinross picked up smartly without his rider having to commit everything in the closing stages.

The Ralph Beckett-trained Kinross, who won the Lennox Stakes in 2021 and was beaten a neck last year, is a formidable force over seven furlongs on softer ground, and he proved the point by conceding 6lb to the runner-up. Marbaan, who won the Vintage Stakes on this day 12 months ago, was three lengths further back in third.

Beckett said: “Kinross has spent a good chunk of the last 48 hours with his left fore in a bucket because he trod on a stone. He’s got very, very thin soles and he feels every pinprick. But when he gets here, he loves it here. He should have won it last year, really – he was unlucky, got trapped in and got there too late, but what a horse to own, and what a horse to train. He has been a joy to train, he really has.

“He likes soft ground because he is out of a Selkirk mare [not because of his thin soles], but over a mile he handles it quick, and we’ll take the same route again with him and try to dance every dance again. He’ll go to York, he might go to Doncaster for the Park Stakes, I hope he’ll go to Longchamp for the Foret, the sprint at Ascot, and Santa Anita. He is a gelding, that’s what he’s there for, he’s got to dance every dance.

“He could go to Hong Kong, particularly with his owner being Hong Kong-based, and there is an idea that that might happen as well. We might have to duck one of the races here to ensure he gets there at the end of the year, but it’s a good problem to have.

“He needs no work. He is a very clean-winded horse. You really don’t have to gallop him at all – once he starts racing, he just spins up the same gallop every day at home, same one, you don’t even have to change that. He is very easy to train. He wasn’t initially – he had a lot of problems at three, he didn’t really get his act together until the end of that year, and then I had to geld him at four in the winter. But once he is in a groove, he stays in that groove - you don’t have to do anything to keep him there.”

FormRatings

Dettori said: “Kinross is my ATM machine! He keeps bringing in the money every year. He is super consistent, he's versatile and seven furlongs is his favourite trip. He's good for Marc [Chan, owner] who is not here today, but I'm sure he is watching on World Pool. All the credit goes to the Beckett team and this horse – he is a star.

"I think Marc wants to run him in Hong Kong at the end of the season, so fingers crossed for that, and there are plenty of other targets including the race he won last year at Ascot [Qipco British Champions Sprint]. He loves the soft ground, although he ran a great race in the Breeders' Cup on firm.

"Thirty six years ago it all started here when I was a 16-year-old apprentice. I have had some good days here, including this one.”

Brian Meehan said of Isaac Shelby: “I am disappointed, obviously, but I’m very pleased with my horse. He ran all the way to the line. I don’t know what the official distance is but he’s that close to a genuine Group One horse.

“Sean [Levey] was very happy and said it was a solid run. I guess the cutaway helped Kinross a little bit, but he’s a wonderful Group One horse and we were not far away – my horse is a three-year-old and relatively lightly raced. He is very good and only going to get better. 

“We space his runs out generally so I’ve got to talk to the owners and see what they’d like to do. I think the Foret is an obvious target but we’ll see. Like I say, I will talk to the owners, they will talk to me, and then we’ll take it from there.”

Marbaan’s trainer Charlie Fellowes said: “I am delighted with that. We have been beaten by two proper Group One horses. I think Jamie felt had the ground been just a bit quicker, we might have been able to get a little bit closer to them. But he’s run a cracker. To be fair he had one bad run at Ascot, where the whole race was just a disaster.  I have always felt that he is one of those horses who is better ridden with a little bit of confidence, a little bit of patience, whereas at Ascot, we were too aggressive on him. This is well and truly back on track and we are delighted with that run.

“He has plenty of entries. I need to have a look at the calendar. He’s entered in the Hungerford and at Doncaster in the Park Stakes. I think we tried to make him a sprinter early on and, although he was beaten by a head by that horse of Henry Candy’s at Sailsbury, who has gone to finish second in the July Cup, I just wonder if seven might be more up his street.”

SureWIn

World Pool Lennox Stakes, Group 2
£180,000 guaranteed, 3yo plus, 7f, Class 1
6 ran
Going: Good to Soft

POS. (DRAW) DIST HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY SP
1 (1)    Kinross 6 9-5 Ralph Beckett Frankie Dettori 10/11F
2 (5) nk Isaac Shelby 3 8-13 Brian Meehan Sean Levey 5/2
3 (7) 3 Marbaan 3 8-13 Charlie Fellowes Jamie Spencer 28/1
4 (2) ¾ Holguin 3 8-13 Andrew Balding Oisin Murphy 12/1
5 (6) nk Indestructible 3 8-13 K R Burke Kevin Stott 14/1
6 (4) ½ Audience 4 9-5 John & Thady Gosden Robert Havlin 15/2
NR 1 (9) Al Suhail 6 9-8 Charlie Appleby NON RUNNER
NR (3) Jumby 5 9-5 Eve Johnson Houghton NON-RUNNER
NR 5 (8) Pogo 7 9-5 Charles Hills NON RUNNER

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