30 April 2022

High hopes Mise En Scene can make her presence felt

30 April 2022

There have been just two British-trained winners of the Qipco 1,000 Guineas in the last decade – yet there is plenty of stable confidence that Mise En Scene could be the one to wrest the Classic from the clutches of Aidan O’Brien.

The Qatar Racing-owned daughter of Siyouni gave James Ferguson his first Group-race triumph in the Prestige Stakes at Goodwood in August, before finishing third in the Fillies’ Mile and not being beaten far in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar.

Champion jockey Oisin Murphy partnered her in a recent racecourse gallop. “She felt in great shape and looked really well,” he said.

Cieren Fallon will be aboard on Sunday and Ferguson feels she is finely tuned after her latest spin.

He said: “We are really happy with her. She is going there in great form and she came out of a racecourse gallop at Chelmsford well and she showed last year she has plenty of ability.

“She is quick enough for a mile and has obviously run at the track before, and so obviously has a little bit of course form which I think is important to the Rowley Mile.

“It was a routine piece of work, but she is in great nick.”

The Charlie Appleby-trained Wild Beauty was fifth in the Fillies’ Mile won by Inspiral.

The daughter of Frankel looked to have strengthened up when she took the Fred Darling at Newbury on her return to action and jockey William Buick feels she has every chance of giving him a first win in the race.

Wild Beauty has a live chance, according to big-race jockey William Buick (Steven Paston/PA) (PA Wire)

“The filly is solid,” said Buick. “She had a good juvenile campaign and I was very pleased with her in the Fred Darling. I thought she did very well.

“She wants a mile and she will stay well. It looks a relatively open race, but at the same time, it doesn’t mean to say it is a below-standard Guineas. I think it is a very good standard with some very nice fillies.

Wild Beauty is more experienced than most of her rivals, having had eight starts and winning four of them.

She has a live chance. I think she is a filly who can take the step. She enjoyed going up in trip from seven furlongs to a mile, as we saw in Canada

A Grade One winner, having landed the Natalma Stakes at Woodbine in September, Buick feels his mount will be suited by the step back up in trip.

“She has a live chance. I think she is a filly who can take the step. She enjoyed going up in trip from seven furlongs to a mile, as we saw in Canada.

“Back up to a mile is really going to suit her and she is doing well. She moved well on the ground last time,” he said.

David Egan had his first ride in a Classic as a 19-year-old when aboard the 2019 favourite Qabala and finished third.

This time he rides Ameynah for Roger Varian. Her two runs have both come over seven furlongs at Newmarket, finishing runner-up on debut last October, before taking a maiden – again over the same seven-furlong trip – on the same Rowley Mile course.

David Egan hopes to go two better than he did in 2019 (John Walton/PA) (PA Archive)

Egan said: “Ameynah is a filly we have always liked. Obviously, first time out you never expect anything but we were hoping she would run a nice race and she did.

“She did everything very nicely, came down the dip and showed greenness down the dip, but finished off her race strong.

“She finished a good second behind one of Marco Botti’s horses (Ribbon Rose) who was able to win with a penalty. She was a bit disappointing in her trial (last of eight in the Nell Gwyn), I don’t know what went wrong there, but obviously she is nice filly.

Obviously, stepping up to a Group One is just whether or not she can be good enough. We go there hopeful

“Shining Al Danah, who was fifth to Ameynah, won the other day at Yarmouth. The fact that we beat her (by nine and three-quarter-lengths) would fill you with a bit more confidence that you’d need going into a Classic.

“It is a massive step up. Obviously, stepping up to a Group One is just whether or not she can be good enough. We go there hopeful. You can’t expect anything in a Classic with a horse that has only won a novice, but she has done enough right for the team to run.”

Andrew Balding has his team in fine early-season form and he saddles Sandrine, who has four lengths to find with Tenebrism on their running in the Cheveley Park.

She steps up to a mile for the first time on her seasonal bow, having raced exclusively over six furlongs in her five starts last term.

Of last season’s Royal Ascot Coventry Stakes heroine, who will be ridden by David Probert, Balding said: “She has been working very well. I’m very happy with her fitness levels.

Sandrine has trip questions to answer, according to her trainer (Tim Goode/PA) (PA Archive)

“Obviously there are slight stamina concerns, but she stayed on really well over six (furlongs) and I’ve no doubt she will stay seven, but whether she will stay a mile in Classic is another question, but we will have that answered on Sunday.

“She is pretty versatile in regards to ground and the faster ground, you would have thought, will help her stamina. She seemed to handle it last year and the course experience may help her.”

Prosperous Voyage is similarly having her first run of the season, having twice chased hone winter ante-post favourite Inspiral – who is an absentee – in the May Hill at Doncaster and the Fillies’ Mile.

Her trainer Ralph Beckett said: “She is in good form. She has been working well this spring.

“I’m pleased with her. She goes there in good shape, so we will see how we go.”

Cachet has few worries about the lack of course experience, having run three times on the Rowley Mile for George Boughey.

Though she won just one of her eight starts as a two-year-old, she was beaten only a length at the Breeders’ Cup and opened her Classic campaign with a decisive success in the Nell Gwyn.

Cachet (left) stayed on well to land the Nell Gwyn (David Davies/PA) (PA Wire)

The young Newmarket handler is hoping her familiarity with the course will help her overcome any limitations, with big-race jockey James Doyle having partnered her twice before.

Boughey said: “I was looking at some of the opposition we’ll be taking on and they don’t have a huge amount of Newmarket form.

“The one thing she has is that she’s very well-balanced. She loves Newmarket. She gets rolling just before we get into the dip, and she accelerates through the dip.

“She’s a forward-going horse on a track which favours speed horses, so she’s got a few of the attributes anyway.”

When asked whether she will stay, Boughey added: “I think she will stay. We dropped her back to seven furlongs in the Nell Gwyn which is a stiff seven and made plenty use of her.

Her work has always suggested she would get the mile and she’s bred to get the mile. She was Group One-placed at two over a mile and very nearly won a Breeders Cup over a mile, so I’d be hopeful she would stay the mile at three

“I think the race has completely changed complexion since Inspiral came out. She is by Frankel and will likely get further. It looked like it was going to be much more of a stamina test, whereas it now looks much more of a speed race.

“The favourite is a Cheveley Park winner. We might try to make it more of a test now.”

Hello You was similarly not beaten far in the same Breeders’ Cup race at Del Mar, and David Loughnane was far from despondent with the Invincible Spirit filly’s reappearance when four and a half lengths behind Cachet in the Nell Gwyn.

“I’m very pleased with her after the Nell Gwyn,” said Loughnane. “I said beforehand that she wasn’t 100 per cent ready, but she has come on loads since, which we always knew she would, and it is all systems go for Sunday.”

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