Middle Park Stakes
Group 1, Newmarket 14:58
£275,000 guaranteed,
2yo only,
6f, Class 1  
Saturday 27th September 2025

FormRatings

Declan Carroll’s Gimcrack hero Lifeplan is being aimed squarely at this Group 1 contest.

The Kodi Bear colt had arrived at York with just the one outing on his CV, a neat one-length debut success at Thirsk in late July. That was over six furlongs, and it was the same trip in the Gimcrack – but the company was altogether stiffer, a Group Two examination that he passed with plenty in hand as Zak Wheatley guided him home by a length.

Talk immediately turned to the Middle Park in the aftermath, and that remains the path set out – with the colt’s season likely to draw to a close afterwards as Classic ambitions start to take shape for next spring.

“He’s come out of York grand and we’re looking at the Middle Park for him,” said Carroll.

“He would like a bit of juice in the ground, it was plenty quick enough for him at York at this stage of his career so we’d really be keeping an eye on the ground.

“He’d never really been away from home much, he’d not been a breeze-up horse or anything like that but he has been very professional in everything he’s done right from the start.

“The Middle Park will definitely be his last run this year, we won’t run him again after that. We’ll be looking at him as a Guineas horse if everything goes well at Newmarket.”

Here’s a rewrite in the more energetic, descriptive style you’d associate with Richard Hoiles:

Richmond Stakes hero Coppull will look to rediscover his winning rhythm, following a creditable but testing fifth in a blistering renewal of the Prix Morny.

“The idea would be to head to the Middle Park,” said Cox. “He’s less proven on an easier surface and since coming home from France we’ve been a bit gentler with him but I’m sure we can resume a positive approach with him soon and look forward to the Middle Park as our next intended target.”

Reflecting on that French challenge, Cox added: “It was very very quick ground over there in Deauville. We were drawn on a wing with the American horse (Outfielder) on the other side. We were thinking he would go and make the running and we were caught a little bit wide and he was a bit too keen and to be fair, the ground was quick enough for him.”

BoyleSports

Middle Park Stakes (Group 1)
£275,000 guaranteed, 2yo only, 6f, Class 1
32 entries
Going:

No. Form Horse Age Weight Trainer
1 117 Al Shaham 2 9-2 Simon & Ed Crisford
2 2134 Amorim 2 9-2 George Boughey
3 13462 Andab 2 9-2 Joseph Patrick O'Brien
4 411 Beckford's Folly 2 9-2 Charlie Appleby
5 142 Brussels 2 9-2 A P O'Brien
6 4111 Charles Darwin 2 9-2 A P O'Brien
7 1315 Coppull 2 9-2 Clive Cox
8 812 Crown Of Light 2 9-2 William Knight
9 0 Decem Starr 2 9-2 Jack Jones
10 2 Division 2 9-2 William Haggas
11 51165 Egoli 2 9-2 Ralph Beckett
12 214029 First Approach 2 9-2 A P O'Brien
13 31251 Flying Comet 2 9-2 Simon & Ed Crisford
14 63 Gaurdman 2 9-2 Roger Varian
15 12 Gold Queen Kindly 2 9-2 K R Burke
16 112 Gstaad 2 9-2 A P O'Brien
17 12123 Havana Hurricane 2 9-2 Eve Johnson Houghton
18 21 Hilitany 2 9-2 George Boughey
19 29157 Irish Fighter 2 9-2 Ismail Mohammed
20 323122 Kansas 2 9-2 A P O'Brien
21 11 Lifeplan 2 9-2 Declan Carroll
22 110272 Military Code 2 9-2 Charlie Appleby
23 2823 Naval Light 2 9-2 K R Burke
24 871 Neolithic 2 9-2 A P O'Brien
25 - Poison Arrow 2 9-2 Richard Spencer
26 132531 Power Blue 2 9-2 Adrian Murray
27 42224 Puerto Rico 2 9-2 A P O'Brien
28 1166 Reciprocated 2 9-2 K R Burke
29 11 Rising Power 2 9-2 Charlie Appleby
30 516310 Tadej 2 9-2 Archie Watson
31 2 The Publican's Son 2 9-2 Joseph Patrick O'Brien
32 14213 Wise Approach 2 9-2 Charlie Appleby