Noble Truth earned first career win in second start at Newmarket, winning impressively for trainer Charlie Appleby; trainer thinking about Champagne Stakes at Doncaster next for two-year-old, son of Kingman
Friday 9 July 2021 17:38, UK
Charlie Appleby has some big-race targets in mind for Noble Truth after he got off the mark with an impressive display at Newmarket.
A promising third behind Thursday's July Stakes winner Lusail on his racecourse debut three weeks ago, the Kingman colt was the 5-2 favourite to open his account in the Weatherbys Bloodstock Pro British EBF Maiden.
Having travelled smoothly in midfield for much of the seven-furlong contest, James Doyle's mount picked up smartly in the closing stage to score by two lengths from Ehraz.
Appleby said: "That performance from Lusail yesterday gave us more confidence coming here today, not that we needed too much as we'd sort of seen it at home anyway.
"On his first run he was a bit free. He was a lot better today and travelled very well throughout the race - and when he hit the rising ground, he hit the line strong.
"We haven't got any immediate plans with him as he has been quite head-strong, so we're taking it race by race and just seeing which way he's going to go.
"I think the Vintage [at Goodwood] will probably come too soon for him, but we could work back from something like the Champagne Stakes [at Doncaster]. That gives him a bit of time to do all the right things, hopefully.
"I think he'll step up to a mile in time - whether he'll be a Vertem Futurity Trophy type horse, we'll see.
"He's a nice, scopey horse who hopefully has a nice future as a three-year-old."
Doyle completed a quickfire double in the following bet365 Handicap, with the William Haggas-trained Dubai Honour coming out on top in a thrilling finish.
Fourth in the Britannia Stakes at Royal Ascot, the 11-2 chance stepped up to beat Foxes Tales by a head.
"I'm thrilled. I thought it might be a bit quick after Ascot - 22 days after what was his first run of the year. He won the Britannia on his side, so he's clearly not a bad horse," said Haggas.
"I would like to give a mention to Laura Collett, who is going to represent us (Britain) in the Olympics. She took this horse on for about two months in the winter because we'd lost him mentally and brought him back a different horse, so I want to thank her publicly.
"That (Glorious Goodwood) looks obvious, but we'll see."
Live Your Dream led home a Godolphin one-two in the £75,000 bet365 Trophy.
Appleby's Global Storm battled his way to the lead late on, but was was unable to resist the late surge of the Saeed bin Suroor-trained 7-2 favourite Live Your Dream, who came from last to first under champion jockey Oisin Murphy.
Bin Suroor said: "He has always been good. He was weak last year, but this year he has improved physically and with the trip.
"There are two races for him - maybe we'll take him to Newbury for the Geoffrey Freer, or maybe the Ebor (at York). It is between those two races.
"He'll be a nice one for the future in staying races and he can handle any ground."
Murphy doubled up aboard George Baker's La Maquina in the Cash Out At bet365 Handicap, with the 6-1 shot edging out 4-1 favourite Aquaman by a short head.
"We could go to Bahrain. He was bouncing off this quick ground, so he could easily be one for over there, particularly this new 85-100 series," said Baker.
"We'll probably go to Goodwood next and then possibly Bahrain. We've put a few of our eggs into the basket over there and I'm excited by it."
Twilight Calls justified 5-2 favouritism in the concluding Moet & Chandon Handicap, with his rider David Probert also enjoying a second winner on the card following the earlier success of Sandrine in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes.
Winning trainer Henry Candy said: "I was being a bit obstinate by not dropping back to five furlongs, but I had to accept the inevitable in the end.
"He's got so much speed - he's a lovely horse who is very, very quick and is the spitting image of his dad (Twilight Son).
"I haven't thought about where we'll go from here. We'll stick in handicaps for the moment, but hopefully with a bit more time on his back he might be able to go a bit higher."
