The Rossdales British EBF Maiden Fillies’ Stakes invariably produces some nice types and the aptly-named Race The Wind could prove to be another after she made light of very blustery conditions to score with some ease at Newmarket.
William Buick always had the Charlie Appleby-trained daughter of Too Darn Hot to the fore in the seven-furlong contest, in which Aidan O’Brien’s Content was a non-runner, and took advantage of a stands rail passage to account for the promising Get Jiggy With It by three-quarters of a length.
Though Buick felt the winner was coming to the end of her tether in the closing stages, owing to the rain-softened ground, she clearly showed improvement from finishing fourth to stablemate Dance Sequence on her first run over course and distance a fortnight ago.
After welcoming in the 5-4 favourite, Appleby said: “It has been one of those weeks. We have started the first race with a winner and been chipping away since!
“She’s a nice filly, who showed a little bit on her first run. She is still weak, but she used that experience to good use there and travelled nicely.
“You’d toy with whether you should come back in trip, but it is probably weakness to be fair. Maybe we will give her a little bit of time to fill that frame a bit.
“Looking at her, time won’t do her any harm. Even when she ran here in her maiden, which we won with a nice filly in Dance Sequence, James (Doyle) just thought she wasn’t the strongest just going through the line. She has obviously got a nice engine.”
He added: “I think a mile will probably be her maximum. I think we will stick to the seven (furlongs) this year and we might toy with a stiff six.”
Appleby, Buick and Godolphin were on the mark again in the bet365 Mile Handicap when top-weight Highbank decided it was one of his going days.
Though he had acquitted himself well in three starts in Dubai, he had been well held in the Britannia at Royal Ascot.
Buick rode him with confidence this time and the 11-1 shot drew readily clear to score by three lengths from Quantum Impact.
“He is a bit of a character, to be fair,” said Appleby. “He broke his maiden here very impressively last year and everyone was getting quite excited after that. But he never really fulfilled the potential we thought he might have.
“The intention was to drop him in and ride him with plenty of confidence and see whether he wants to participate or not at the business end – and thankfully he has.
“We haven’t really got any future plans. We were looking at Dubai again, needless to say. That will probably be his future.
“He has always had the engine – it has always been whether he wants to do it, is the honest answer.”
Naomi Lapaglia is highly regarded by trainer Richard Spencer and while she has taken time to flourish this season, she took the Bedford Lodge Hotel & Spa Fillies’ Handicap in good style under experienced South African jockey Greg Cheyne.
Down the field in the Qipco 1000 Guineas, she also produced a lacklustre effort at Goodwood, but relished this drop back to seven furlongs to score by a length from In These Shoes at 5-1.
Spencer said: “She has got a lot of talent, but things haven’t really gone right. We didn’t get a run into her before the Guineas which showed, as she was gassy and ran with the choke out.
“She has got it all together today and done it well. We will go little steps with her, but hopefully she will end up being in black-type company towards the end of the year.”
