Head lands Group One success (From The Northern Echo)

Head lands Group One success

11:03am Thursday 9th July 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)

FREDDIE HEAD jumped back aboard the Group One bandwagon, as Breeders’ Cup heroine Goldikova returned to top form in the Etihad Airways Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket.

Last season was a blistering one for the French jockey-turnedtrainer as he scooped eight Group One prizes around the world, including at this meeting as Marchand d’Or landed the Darley July Cup.

But this year has started slowly, with his stable stars – including Marchand d’Or, Goldikova and Naaqoos – all turned over during the early part of the campaign.

Goldikova herself could muster only a lowly seventh place in the Prix d’Ispahan in May, but looked a different beast at Headquarters as she raced home under Olivier Peslier as the 7-4 favourite.

The four-year-old raced prominently throughout and, despite wandering about after leading inside the final furlong, she held on by half a length from the Cheveley Park Stud-owned duo of Heaven Sent and Spacious.

Head said: “The ground at Longchamp was so bad and the filly could not get out of it. She has been working well coming here and I was very happy with her prep gallops so I was very confident.

“Maybe we saw a lot of daylight (in the race) and she did it the hard way, but kept on finding.

“I don’t think there was much pace on early and it was a slowrun, funny race.

“She came to the front a bit early and I was a bit scared, but she kept finding something.

“I think she would have won a little further with a better pace and no one came back at her at the end.

“She will now go to Deauville for the Prix Rothschild or the Jacques Le Marois. The Marois is the main goal so we will see if she runs before that.”

Stan Moore, meanwhile, believes Total Gallery could end up competing in Group One company by the end of the season following his battling victory in the totesport.com Stakes.

The three-year-old won a Listed prize at Ascot on his first start of the current campaign, but then appeared to have his limitations exposed in three subsequent starts at Group level.

The son of Namid was being turned out again quickly, having finished down the field over five furlongs at Sandown last Saturday and came through to mount a serious challenge inside the final furlong.

Desert Icon (11-1) emerged as a serious threat in the final strides but Total Gallery kept up the gallop under Johnny Murtagh to score by a neck.

Moore said: “He ran on Saturday in a Group Three at Sandown, but he just didn’t get a run.

“We thought if that didn’t take too much out of him, he would run a big race.

“One of the favourites, Global City, we beat him three and a half lengths as a two-year-old in his maiden, so if you were going on that, he had a big chance.

‘‘At the end of the season, the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp would be his aim, but another of these races wouldn’t go amiss.’’

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)