Bahrain Trophy |
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| Group 3, Newmarket 13:50 £200,000 guaranteed, 3yo only, 1m 5f, Class 1  |
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1 Castle Way 9/2
2 Tower Of London 4/6F
3 Saint George 9/2
6 ran Distances: hd, nk, 2¼l
Time: 2m 47.35s (slow by 4.75s)
The @Boodles July Festival gets underway with Castle Way holding on narrowly to land a thrilling renewal of the Group 3 @BahrainTurfClub Trophy Stakes for William Buick, Charlie Appleby and @godolphin pic.twitter.com/gUjUVIeuqM https://t.co/Qk2DmkDz7Z via @RacingBetter
— RacingBetter (@RacingBetter) July 13, 2023
Not seen since winning a Listed race over 10 furlongs at the Guineas meeting, Castle Way was stepping up markedly in trip to a mile and five furlongs.
William Buick sat in second on the Charlie Appleby-trained winner, as rank outsider Think First set a sedate gallop under Neil Callan, meaning several in behind were very keen.
Tower Of London was particularly not one of those, but while it did look like he wanted to go a little quicker, Ryan Moore was still sat close enough to the pace if good enough.
As the race began in earnest Saint George moved up on his outside which allowed Castle Way to steal a march.
When Think First dropped away Tower Of London was in the clear with plenty of time to catch the 9-2 scorer, but Moore lost his stick over a furlong from home, which will not have helped.
The favourite was gaining with every stride, but went down by a head with Saint George not far away in third.
Appleby said: “We’re delighted. He’s a horse who hasn’t done a lot wrong in his career, really. His only real blip was at Epsom on soft ground.
“We came in here today confident this step up in trip would suit him. There was a question mark, as there always is when you are going beyond that mile -and-a-half category.
“It was a great ride by William. We went out there to ride him as though the trip wasn’t an issue and as William said, for a trip just short of a mile and six, we went very steady. It did turn turn into a bit of a sprint. At one stage I thought, ‘oh, we’ve committed now and you’ll have to find again’, but to be fair to the horse, he dug deep.”
Asked if he was thinking of the St Leger in the long term, Appleby added: “Most definitely. We will probably go down the natural route there to the Voltigeur and then hopefully that will springboard us into being a St Leger contender, anyway.
“We haven’t had a run since May. For no other reason that I dodged Ascot for King Of Steel to be perfectly honest – I couldn’t see us beating him – and then the next target was here.
“We kept an eye on the Grand Prix de Paris, but we would have to ship there and he hasn’t done that before, and it is a small but competitive race. On our doorstep, we thought we would come here and test our stamina before we go travelling.”
Bahrain Trophy (Group 3)
£200,000 guaranteed, 3yo only, 1m 5f, Class 1
6 ran
Going: Good to Firm, Good in places
POS. (DRAW) DIST HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY SP
1 (6) Castle Way 3 9-3 Charlie Appleby William Buick 9/2
2 (1) hd Tower Of London 3 9-3 A P O'Brien Ryan Moore 4/6F
3 (3) nk Saint George 3 9-3 Andrew Balding Cieren Fallon 9/2
4 (5) 2¼ Klondike 3 9-3 William Haggas Tom Marquand 10/1
5 (2) nk Land Legend 3 9-3 James Ferguson Andrea Atzeni 25/1
6 (4) 15 Think First 3 9-3 James Tate Neil Callan 100/1
