Bucanero certainly not Lacken quality
BUCANERO FUERTE, a Group 1 winner at two, should make a successful start to his three-year-old campaign in the Group 3 Goffs Lacken Stakes on Royal Ascot Trials Day in Naas tomorrow.
As part of the track’s Centenary celebrations, admission is free for everyone. So a huge crowd is expected for a card which features four stakes races.
And Bucanero Fuerte, trained by Adrian Murray for AMO Racing, should prove the star of the show, despite his Group 1 penalty, in the Lacken.
This imposing Wootton Basset colt won three of his five juvenile starts all at the Curragh, a maiden on the opening day of the season, the Group 2 Railway and, most significantly, the Group 1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes in August.
In the Phoenix, Bucanero powered clear to slam Porta Fortuna by four lengths, with tomorrow’s main rival
Givemethebeatboys (won the recent Committed in Navan) third, form which is put in context by Porta Fortuna’s subsequent exploits, including her Cheveley
Park win and her narrow defeat in the recent Qipco 1,000
Guineas in Newmarket.
That was a spectacular performance, which proved Bucanero Fuerte’s star quality and the main reason he boasts a rating of 120.
His two defeats last year came in the Coventry at Royal Ascot, when beaten a length in third place, and his only flop, when tackling seven furlongs and finishing a distant third to Henry Longfellow in the Goffs Vincent O’brien National Stakes.
Ridden for the first time by David Egan (inset), Bucanero Fuerte looks a cut above his six rivals and is a confident choice.