Yibir well fancied to bounce back to victory after second in Sheema Classic in Dubai; Mark Johnston's West End Charmer the main market rival in Group Two Jockey Club Stakes (3.35pm); Nations Pride heads four in Listed Newmarket Stakes
Thursday 28 April 2022 16:16, UK
Yibir heads a select field of six for the Betfair Exchange Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket on Friday as Charlie Appleby looks to continue his fine start to the season.
The son of Dubawi was on the scoresheet four times in 2021 and capped a fine three-year-old season when landing the Breeders' Cup Turf at Del Mar.
He was beaten a neck in his first outing of 2022 in the Dubai Sheema Classic, but the Moulton Paddocks trainer is hoping for a big performance in his first run back on home soil, with further globetrotting missions on the agenda for later in the season.
"Yibir was last seen in the Sheema Classic. He was the winner of the Breeders' Cup Turf and he is going to head towards the Jockey Club Stakes and hopefully that will springboard him on to a trip to America for the Man O' War Stakes," Appleby said.
Charlie and Mark Johnston saddle their Easter Classic winner, the hat-trick seeking Living Legend, in opposition as the yard look for their third-straight success in the Group Two contest, while the Middleham-based pairing are also responsible for the training of West End Charmer, who will be the mount of Ryan Moore.
Appleby will be hoping to get Guineas weekend off to a fine start when his first runner of the day Nations Pride attempts to make it four wins on the bounce in the Best Odds On The Betfair Exchange Newmarket Stakes.
He is another he has high hopes for, reporting on the Godolphin website: "He is now stepping up into Listed company, but he has travelled back from Dubai in the last three weeks and he looks well. Hopefully he will put up a good run there."
Four go to post in the Listed contest and the most interesting runner of the quartet could well be Roger Varian's Subastar, who struck at the first time of asking in a Newmarket maiden last September.
The form of that race has been franked at all angles since and the Carlburg Stables handler is hopeful he has a smart operator on his hands.
"We like him a lot he's a lovely horse, but he's only ever run once, so we'll have to see how he fares Friday before making too many bold plans. We hope he's a horse who can progress to something exciting and we're looking forward to getting him started on Friday," said Varian. "It's usually a good maiden at Newmarket at that time of year and he's a colt we've always liked and he's trained nicely over the last few weeks."
The field is completed by Hoo Ya Mal, who was last seen finishing third to Native Trail in the Craven and now stretches out to 10 furlongs, and Austrian Theory, who filled the same position behind the Varian-trained Eydon in the Feilden Stakes.
The other Listed event on the card is the King Charles II Stakes over seven furlongs where Godolphin are again well represented with their Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere runner-up Noble Truth, but Marcus Tregoning is optimistic Ribhi could be the one to take top spot on the podium.
The Dark Angel colt was third on his reappearance in the Free Handicap, but Tregoning states the three-year-old could have taken a step forward from that course-and-distance outing.
"He's come out of the Free Handicap very well and I think it's an open-looking race and he'll go there with a great chance. He's in good shape and looks a picture," said the trainer. "In the Free Handicap he ran OK and he perhaps has to step up to win this, but there is a good chance he will have improved enough."
