Marquand eyeing Group One double at Newmarket
Relief Rally and Lake Forest tackle juvenile highlights.
Tom Marquand has his sights set on what would be a memorable Group One double at Newmarket this weekend. The prolific Relief Rally takes her chance in the Juddmonte Cheveley Park Stakes, followed soon after by Lake Forest in the Middle Park. Both juveniles are trained by William Haggas and both are fresh from Group-race victories at the Ebor meeting, where Relief Rally landed the Lowther Stakes and Lake Forest was a slightly more surprising winner of the Gimcrack. Their big-race jockey said: “Relief Rally has been foot-perfect all season. She is a little battler and has the ability to go with it which is great. I’m looking forward to the weekend as it would be her big opportunity to get a well-deserved Group One on the board.“Realistically, she probably has to take another little step forward as there are other fillies who will be progressing at the end of the year, but it is a step, not a leap. “She has been super versatile everywhere we have gone with her. The way she has done everything else I can’t imagine the track will be a problem. If she takes a small step forward she should be putting up a big performance and that should be enough to win.” He added: “If she does train on it would be absolutely fantastic as she has not had a killer year where you have emptied the tank. “She has had every opportunity to have some big dances, and this would be the biggest of them all. “With fast two-year-olds you have to enjoy them in the moment and ultimately she has given us a great season. “If it backs up to nothing else then so be it, but you can always look back with great fondness as there are not many that can go to those big festival meetings and perform as well as she has.” In contrast to Relief Rally obliging as the 2-1 favourite at York, Lake Forest was sent on his way at 16-1 for the Gimcrack, having been beaten at 1-3 previously at Newmarket.
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