Easter Classic contender Penzance still improving

PA Sports Reporters
March 28, 2024 4:00 pm

Appleby: ‘He’s in good order and he would be our best chance of a winner on Friday.’

Penzance bids to put the seal on a prolific winter campaign by securing top honours in the BetUK All-Weather Easter Classic at Newcastle on Good Friday.

A five-race maiden when changing hands for 31,000 guineas last July, the grey has proved another shrewd purchase for trainer Mick Appleby and successful owners The Horse Watchers, with a promising effort on his Wolverhampton debut for new connections followed by four successive victories.

There is no doubt he faces a rise in class on All-Weather Championships Finals Day, but Appleby is confident of another bold showing in Gosforth Park’s GBP 200,000 feature.

A class above! Penzance pulls away to make it four on the bounce in the @awchamps Middle Distance Trial at @LingfieldPark for @MickApplebyUK and @Ali_rawlinson… pic.twitter.com/xzTNMIlkRo
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) March 1, 2024

“He has just kept improving every time and was really impressive last time, so I think he should have a really good chance,” said the trainer.

“He’s in good order and he would be our best chance of a winner on Friday.

“Every run he’s had, he’s improved and it will be interesting to see how he goes when we switch him to the turf. He’s one to look forward to.”

Part-owner Chris Dixon added: “It will be his most difficult task so far, but he seems to have improved again from his last run. Ali (Rawlinson) has been riding him at home, as well as on the track, and is very happy with him.

“It will be a red-hot race given the money and quality of horse on offer. I don’t think he has reached his cap yet, but there are probably other horses who are in the same boat.”

Oh So Grand winning the Winter Oaks at Lingfield (Steven Paston/PA)

Penzance’s former trainers Simon and Ed Crisford are represented by both Oh So Grand and Base Note, with the former very much the stable’s first string as she looks to supplement victories in the Winter Oaks Trial and the Winter Oaks at Lingfield.

“Oh So Grand has had a very good winter and remains in good form for this race. She will need to improve again, but we think there is more to come from her,” said Simon Crisford.

“Base Note found life a little tougher in a handicap last time, but he has been working well recently and loves the all-weather.”

Irish hopes are carried by the Adrian Murray-trained Elegant Man, who has won twice at Dundalk either side of chasing home Breeders’ Cup and multiple Group One winner Rebel’s Romance in the Listed Wild Flower Stakes at Kempton in December.

Murray said: “We had him entered to go to Dubai, but it looked like he wasn’t going to get in the race and this was the alternative.

“He’s only had the three runs and he’s an improving horse, I think down the road he’s an exciting horse. It’s a big pot on Friday and down the line hopefully he’ll be going into Group races, we think he’s that category of a horse that is potentially good enough to do that.”

Hooking is an interesting contender from France, not least because he is owned by international footballer Antoine Griezmann, who was named man of the match when Les Bleus won the 2018 World Cup final.

Although considerably older than most of his rivals at the age of eight, Philippe Decouz’s raider has proved himself as good as ever by winning two Listed prizes since the turn of the year.

Decouz said: “Hooking has been in my yard for seven years now, so we have a long history! He is in remarkable condition for an eight-year-old, we have always looked after him and given him breaks.

Antoine Griezmann owns Hooking (Martin Rickett/PA)

“He is in top form. The race at Newcastle was a logical choice following his winter programme. He doesn’t go on heavy ground and so there is not a race for him in France at the moment.

“This is a first runner in the UK for his owner Antoine Griezmann and also for me. It is a great challenge.”

Other contenders include the William Haggas-trained To Catch A Thief, Simon Pearce’s Storm Catcher and Teumessias Fox from Andrew Balding’s yard, all previous winners over the course and distance.

Balding said of the latter, who was last seen impressing at Kempton in late January: “He is coming in fresh, which I think is a bonus for him as his record after a break is pretty good.

“The only issue is that he is very high in the weights now for winning last time, so it won’t be easy.”