LET’S KEEP IT FRESH!
Stay faithful to Fanshawe ace for repeat triumph
FRESH gets the vote to end his barren run and repeat his victory of three years ago in the Moët & Chandon International Handicap (3.00) at Ascot this afternoon.
James Fanshawe’s stable stalwart has plummeted down the handicap during a 15-run losing streak, but the recent evidence is that the fire still burns.
On the back of a return to form over six furlongs at Haydock at the beginning of last month, Fresh was persistently denied daylight when seventh to English Oak in the Buckingham Palace Handicap at Royal Ascot 12 days later.
Fresh came home with a flourish back at six here last time, finishing two and a half lengths behind Jarraaf.
The return to seven will suit and, with Billy Loughnane at the controls for the first time, Fresh is taken to get back in business.
She failed to turn up as the odds-on favourite for York’s Group 3 Musidora Stakes in May, but FRIENDLY SOUL is worth a chance to atone in the same-level Longines Valiant Stakes (2.25).
Ten days after a success in the Listed Pretty Polly Stakes at Newmarket, the John and Thady Gosden-saddled daughter of Kingman, a Kempton debut scorer last Christmas, refused to settle from her outside draw at York and returned a sorry last of seven behind Secret Satire.
Coming back to a mile looks an interesting move and Kieren Shoemark’s partner shouldn’t be written off.
Andrew Balding has a near one-in-four strike-rate at present, so stable form won’t be an issue for HANDCUFFED, who carries the silks of the King and Queen in the Group 3 Sodexo Live! Princess Margaret Stakes (1.50).
Dark Angel’s daughter justified market support in style at Newbury first time out.
At York, PASSENGER (below) is expected to make up for lost time by denying Alflaila back-to-back triumphs in the Group 2 Sky Bet
York Stakes (3.15). On the back of his length-and-a-half defeat of Israr in the Group 2 Huxley Stakes at Chester in May, the Sir Michael Stoute-tutored son of Ulysses missed both the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Coral-eclipse Stakes at Sandown with a minor infection.
With just five races on his CV, Passenger still has untapped potential to draw upon.
The opening Sky Bet “Jump Jockeys’ Nunthorpe” Handicap (2.05) is wide open but BIRKENHEAD won it in 2022 from a mark of 67 and competes from the same rating here.
He has been off for 99 days since an underwhelming comeback at Bath, but better is expected from RAGE OF BAMBY in the Sky Bet Dash Handicap (2.40).