Grosvenor Sport ambassador Harry Eustace is looking forward to another big Flat season and previews ten horses he’s looking forward to sending out from Highfield Stables this term.
Cheltenham is done, the Grand National is in the rear-view mirror, so that only means one thing: the Flat is back. It’s been a good winter for us here, and there’s been a remarkably low amount of rain, so we’ve been fortunate and it’s great to be getting going with our team for this season. We’ve got around 55 in, but I thought I’d focus in on ten or so of our higher profile horses to follow for the campaign.
Some trainers are keen to ready their two-year-olds early, but I prefer not to rush them and let them find their feet a little more before pushing any buttons. We do have a good bunch in, though, and one that’s doing things nicely at the minute is Attention Seeker. He’s a Cotai Glory colt who we think a good bit of, and we’ll be looking forward to getting him out soon enough. We have our eye on a few potential targets, but we’ll let him tell us when he’s ready to start off.
Divine Comedy was progressive last season and ran a belter to come second at Royal Ascot. That ground was plenty fast for her that day in the Ascot Stakes, and we struggled to find her a good spot to run a run in after that, albeit she ran with credit on each occasion in defeat. She ran a blinder on her comeback at Nottingham on Wednesday and I’d say it was the best run she’s ever put in on her first outing of a season. The Chester Cup had been in our mind before Wednesday, but we’re now almost certainly more likely to go to the Sagaro Stakes at Ascot at the end of the month. That will be another step up for her, but I think she’s earned that berth and we’ll be excited to run her there.
Docklands has been just the most brilliant horse for the yard over the last few years. He put in a huge effort to finish second to Champion Miler Charyn in the Queen Anne and from then, it was all about getting him ready for his international travels. He did nothing wrong in his three runs in Australia and Hong Kong, bumping into some of the world’s best horses on the biggest stages at Moonee Valley, Flemington and Sha Tin. He’s come back from his trip and had a nice little break, which was well deserved. He’s done well in his time off and we’re getting him tuned up again for his five-year-old season. I think last season taught us that he really is just an out-and-out miler, so I’d say that’s how he’ll be campaigned this year. We’re looking to starting him off in the Paradise Stakes at Ascot on the Sagaro Stakes card and then work back from the Queen Anne from there. He’s been in fine form since he’s been back in training, and we can’t wait to get going with him. Hayley Turner was obviously a big part of the best days we’ve had with him, and with her retiring, we’ll be on the lookout to find his next jockey in the next few weeks ahead of Ascot.
An interesting relative newcomer to the yard is Killenaule. He’s a three-year-old who joined us from Ollie Sangster and made a pleasing debut when third at Southwell at the end of March. We’re liking what we see from him at home and the team that bought him were looking for a type who could end up at Royal Ascot. He shapes like he’s good enough for that, and we’re working back from the Golden Gates at the Royal meeting. We’ve got to make him a winner and make sure he’s good enough to get there first, but hopefully that’ll work out. He runs at Newbury on Saturday, and while it looks a very competitive race, we need to get him out and given a mark by the handicapper if we’re going to see our plans come to fruition.
We’ve always thought a lot of La Botte and after he bolted up at Newcastle at the end of March, he looks to have marked himself out as a big horse to follow this season. He was a pricey purchase from the Arqana Breeze-Ups last year and ran well to be third in a late-season maiden in October. He readily ran clear of the rest up at Gosforth Park the other day and I think he’s a real nice one to keep an eye on this term. We’re not fully sure about where we’ll see him next, but I’d like to think he could be one with whom we work backwards from Royal Ascot.
Mustazeed is a real old favourite in the yard and we were thrilled to get a nice win into him at Newbury last year. He’s a bit of a character and now as a seven-year-old, he more or less trains himself with what he likes to do at home. He prefers softer ground and with the weather the way it’s been, it looks unlikely to be suitable for him at the moment. There also aren’t a host of race options for him either right now, so we’ll hope the weather comes in his favour and by then we can find a nice option for him.
Principality is another interesting newcomer to the yard. He was with Richard Hannon last season and put in some respectable performances along the way, including in Group company too. He changed hands at the sales at the end of last season and we’ve gelded him, so we’ve let him have plenty of time to get over that and are looking forward to getting him started. There is a race we’re considering at the Guineas meeting at Newmarket, and after a nice piece of work on Thursday, we’d like to think he can make his stable bow for us there.
Sea Of Kings is a nice three-year-old colt who made his debut on Wednesday. He was a fine second to a well-fancied Roger Varian colt and we were pleased with our guy’s effort. He is a full brother to Sea Of Class and there are similarities between them, but it’s early days to be comparing them too closely. We haven’t got a solid plan in place for him yet, but I’d certainly like to see him confirm the promise of his debut effort before we start getting ahead of ourselves.
Sir Les Patterson had a good start to his three-year-old career, and as a result of that, had to be campaigned in some pretty tough handicaps. He’s such a laidback character, we decided to run him over a mile, and it didn’t really work, so we lost our way with him a bit. He was gelded, given a nice break, but found things a little difficult at the backend. However, he’s wintered well and matured, showing that when winning nicely on seasonal bow in March. He looks like he could be a fun Saturday handicapper this term, and I think he’s bred to be a sprinter, so he’ll be interesting to watch. He runs at Newbury on Friday, so we’ll see how that goes and plan the season accordingly from then.
Time For Sandals is a filly we are really looking forward to this year. She won on debut and then was placed twice subsequently, including when a fast-finishing second in the Group 2 Lowther at York’s Ebor Meeting in August. She picked up a small niggle after that and we decided to just take the foot off the gas and have her nicely readied for her three-year-old campaign. She’s wintered really well and has been pleasing us with her work so far. She obviously hasn’t ran over six furlongs yet, but she looked to be staying very well in the Lowther and we’re keen to see how she goes over a longer distance. We’re going to start her off in Saturday’s Fred Darling at Newbury and see how she goes. Should she take to the test well, we’ll be working back from the French 1,000 Guineas in May. It’s around a bend at ParisLongchamp for that race, and you can often get stop-start races, so that might be our best chance of staying the mile at this stage of her career. First and foremost, we’ll get her to Saturday and see how that goes. She’s a big hope of ours this term.
All the best,
Harry