Doyle enjoyed a terrific Friday with victory on Trueshan in the Doncaster Cup and looks to land a Listed prize in France on Saturday; she then joins Frankie Dettori over in Sweden at Bro Park for an excellent card featuring the Group Three Stockholm Cup
Friday 15 September 2023 18:28, UK
Our ambassador Hollie Doyle is fresh from victory in the Doncaster Cup on Friday with Trueshan and heads to France before a trip to Sweden on Sunday.
TRUESHAN has always been one of my favourite horses - I absolutely love him - so to see him return to his brilliant best in the Betfred Doncaster Cup on Friday was a proud moment.
The wind operation he had after disappointing in the Sagaro Stakes at Ascot in May has clearly put him firmly back on track as one of the best stayers of his generation. The turning point of Friday's race on Town Moor was allowing him to go on a stride before we swung for home. We were going a pedestrian pace and I felt I needed to react.
If you try and break a horse's stride it's never going to end well so I allowed him to do what made him happy and he travelled so sweetly. He's the type of horse who will use himself properly without doing more than you want him to when you give him his head like that. The bigger risk was probably coming up the centre of the track.
I walked the course before racing and spoke to the clerk of the course who told me that's where the best ground was and in the end it all worked out. It was a quality renewal of the great old race and it was satisfying to beat the progressive Sweet William and Trueshan's old adversary Coltrane so emphatically. I was hoping we could set the record straight after that defeat by Andrew Balding's star in last year's race and we did it in style.
READY FOR ACTION AT CHANTILLY
I head to Chantilly for just one ride on Saturday when I partner Archie Watson's lovely colt ACTION POINT in the Group 3 Prix Eclipse (2.50). This looks a winnable opportunity for him following his success in the Listed Rose Bowl at Newbury and a commendable fourth in the Group 2 Gimcrack at York last month.
It's going to be a good test of his progress but we've been pleased with him at home since his latest run so I'm hoping for the best as Archie usually does well with his overseas raiders. Action Point is one of three British runners in the line-up, along with the Alice Haynes-trained dual winner Majestic Beauty and Karl Burke's Dawn Charger, who was second in a similar grade over 5f at Longchamp recently.
THIRD TIME LUCKY FOR OUTBOX?
After finishing a close second in the last two runnings of the Group 3 Stockholm Cup International (5.10), Hambleton Racing's journeyman OUTBOX bids to make it third time lucky at Bro Park in Stockholm on Sunday. He was agonisingly denied in the final strides last year after making most of the running in the 1m4f feature and is drawn to be handy again this time in stall 10.
Though he has not won this year, Archie Watson's money-spinning globetrotter has run some nice races in defeat, notably when going down by just half a length in the Listed Fred Archer Stakes at Newmarket in July, so can hopefully settle a score of his own.
HAGGAS FILLY STEPS UP IN CLASS
I also ride for two other British trainers at Bro Park including William Haggas, who runs GOOD GRACIOUS in the Listed Lanwades Stud Stakes (5.45) over 1m. This will be her first run in this grade after struggling to make an impact for my husband Tom (Marquand) at the Qatar Goodwood Festival, when the ground was particularly testing.
Before that she won a Class 3 handicap on the round course at Ascot in July - a truer reflection of her potential - and black type here would really enhance her paddock value. There's a good British representation in this race, with David Egan on Roger Varian'sZenga - an All-Weather winner at Wolverhampton last year.
WASHINGTON OUT TO REACH NEW HEIGHTS
I'm back in the Hambleton Racing silks in the 6f Bro Park Sprint Championship (4.15) on Kevin Ryan's WASHINGTON HEIGHTS - a horse I know well. I finished fourth on him in a good handicap at Ascot last month when a stumble at the start didn't help his chances.
Though he's without a win since his second outing as a two-year-old, he's run some solid races in defeat this year including at York in June when he missed out narrowly on a valuable prize.
Frankie Dettori rides Let's Go Crazy in that race for Norwegian-based trainer Niels Petersen, who puts me up on his SMAZING in the mile and a quarter Herbert Sachs Memorial (4.40). She has some solid form in staying races around Ovrevoll so looks an interesting ride.
