Weatherbys Hamilton Insurance Lonsdale Cup |
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| Group 2, York £250,000 guaranteed, 3yo plus, 2m 56y, Class 1  |
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A return to York and a second tilt at the Lonsdale Cup could well be on the horizon for Al Nayyir, after the admirable globetrotter was once again touched off by the narrowest of margins at Sandown.
Tom Clover’s seven-year-old was agonisingly denied by a short head in last year’s renewal when just edged out by Vauban, and after wintering abroad — posting solid efforts in both Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Turf Handicap and the Dubai Gold Cup — he’s shown all the right signs back on home soil.
He ran a creditable third behind Trawlerman, who would go on to lift the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, in the Henry II Stakes, and returned to the Esher venue for the Listed Coral Marathon earlier this month. Once again, it was a photo finish — and once again, Al Nayyir was on the wrong end of it, this time losing out to the evergreen Coltrane.
“He ran super,” said Clover. “Maybe as an older horse he just felt that quick summer ground a little, but he really hit the line well. Hopefully, there’s another stakes race in him soon. A return to York is definitely on the table — he was so close last year, and it could well be the plan.”
There was further cause for optimism from the Clover camp over the weekend, despite results falling short of the scoreboard.
At Newmarket, high-class sprinter Rogue Lightning finished a close-up ninth in the July Cup, less than five lengths adrift in what proved a rough-and-tumble contest.
“He ran well,” Clover said. “He seems to love getting into trouble — it’s just hard to get a clear run in races like that. But he wasn’t beaten far, and we’ll look to work back from the Dukhan Sprint in Qatar, which he won this year. Fingers crossed he can bag another stakes race along the way.”
Over at York, Tabletalk looked to be cruising into contention in the Group Three Silver Cup, travelling notably well through the race. But his effort flattened out late on, and he had to settle for third behind Al Qareem.
Clover reflected: “I thought he might go on and win when he moved into it. Maybe Ascot took a bit more out of him than we thought — it might just have come a shade too soon. He’s a Group Three horse, no doubt in my mind, and that looked a good opportunity. We’ll give him a quiet week now and build back up.”
Lonsdale Cup
(British Champions Series)
£250,000 guaranteed, 3yo plus, 2m 88y, Class 1
26 entries
Going:
NO. FORM HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY
1 23-511 Trawlerman 7 9-8 John & Thady Gosden
2 415-32 Absurde 7 9-5 W P Mullins
3 5-5832 Al Nayyir 7 9-5 Tom Clover
4 -31211 Al Qareem 6 9-5 K R Burke
5 10-342 Al Riffa 62 5 9-5 Joseph O'Brien
6 3-2251 Coltrane 8 9-5 Andrew Balding
7 395948 Continuous 5 9-5 A P O'Brien
8 4/1193 Dubai Future 9 9-5 Saeed bin Suroor
9 132320 Epic Poet 6 9-5 David O'Meara
10 11-211 French Master 4 9-5 John & Thady Gosden
11 221-12 Illinois 4 9-5 A P O'Brien
12 21-272 Military Academy 4 9-5 John & Thady Gosden
13 16-344 Palladium 4 9-5 John & Thady Gosden
14 /5461- Quickthorn 8 9-5 Hughie Morrison
15 5451-1 Sober 6 9-5 W P Mullins
16 5121-6 Subsequent 4 9-5 Andrew Balding
17 30-354 Sunway 4 9-5 David Menuisier
18 212-34 Sweet William 6 9-5 John & Thady Gosden
19 5-2263 Tabletalk 4 9-5 Tom Clover
20 4223-4 Trueshan 9 9-5 Alan King
21 12/11- Uxmal 6 9-5 Joseph O'Brien
22 1-211P Wonder Legend 5 9-5 James Ferguson
23 71-713 Galveston 3 8-8 A P O'Brien
24 14-419 Puppet Master 3 8-8 A P O'Brien
25 27-151 Scandinavia 3 8-8 A P O'Brien
26 13-448 Shackleton 3 8-8 A P O'Brien
