Invictus Gold in the hunt for Rockingham honours

Tom Clover’s hat-trick-seeking charge arrives on the Knavesmire in top form.

Invictus Gold will seek to complete his hat-trick in the Coral Rockingham Stakes at York on Saturday.

Tom Clover’s juvenile has found confidence since finishing at the rear of a six-runner field on debut at Yarmouth in May.

He was subsequently gelded and it has seemed to do the trick, as the son of Invincible Spirit prevailed by one and three-quarter lengths on his next appearance at Southwell in July.

Invictus Gold followed that up with an even more impressive triumph at Newmarket in August, powering to a two-length success on good to soft ground, with more juice set to be under foot on the Knavesmire.

A solid display in the six-furlong Listed race could result in lucrative contests on the all-weather this winter.

“I’ve been very pleased with him, he’s trained well,” the Kremlin House Stables handler said. “His home work has been really pleasing and I would hope he’d shape up well.

“It’s that time of year when it’s hard to go in with lots of confidence, just because horses can tend to run a bit in-and-out at this time of year. It’s a step up in grade, but I feel that he deserves to take his chance in this sort of a race.

“Our plan is to go Saturday and then think about what we might do in the winter. We’ll probably give him an easy two weeks after Saturday and then think whether we want to try to aim him towards something nice on the all-weather.”

Clover’s charge is set to face eight rivals in the GBP 70,000 opener, with Hugo Palmer’s It Ain’t Two among the three fillies in the field.

The daughter of Calyx impressed during her Class Two success at Chester in August before stepping up to Pattern company on her last two starts, most recently finishing three and a quarter lengths behind winner Sky Majesty when sixth in the Group Three Firth of Clyde at Ayr.

Palmer was clear on his ambitions for his charge, who will be making her 11th start of a campaign in which she has acquitted herself well.

He said: “She’s in good order, I’m happy with her. She should go on the ground and we are trying to win a stakes race with her, having been placed in a few, so fingers crossed. She’s a hardy filly.”

Dark Cloud Rising is out to help David O’Meara, who trails leader Andrew Balding by two victories, in his bid to become the Charles Clinkard Top Trainer at the Knavesmire.

“He’s in good form, we were happy with his run at Haydock most recently,” O’Meara said. “The ground conditions on Saturday will be a little bit of an unknown.”

Ralph Beckett’s Bolo Neighs is bidding to strike again having shed his maiden tag in a lucrative sales race at the Curragh last time out, while Shadow Army, trained by Richard Fahey, is the only runner who has won at York, scoring at the Dante meeting.

Raneenn looks for a third triumph in four appearances for William Haggas, Pearl Of Windsor lines up for Conrad Allen and Karl Burke has two starters in Jungle Drums and Milford.

O’Meara will have another chance to close the gap in the feature race, as the evergreen Summerghand aims for glory in the Coral Sprint Trophy Handicap – in what could be his swansong.

The 10-year-old is set to make the 106th appearance of an admirable career in the six-furlong contest and with over GBP 50,000 for the winner, it would be a fitting way for the son of Lope De Vega to bid farewell.

“I’ll run him on Saturday and see how it goes,” O’Meara said.

“He could do with it drying out a little bit as well. He looks great, he’s moving well.”

The Fahey-trained Malc has not been seen since finishing down the field in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot in June after a number of minor setbacks.

However, Tom Palin, of owners Middleham Park Racing, is confident of a strong showing despite the lack of “peak fitness” in the three-year-old.

“He’s pretty well, obviously he’s been off the track for a fair while. Whatever happens on Saturday, he will come on for it,” Palin said.

“We were targeting the Ayr Gold Cup as a sort of return for him and he just keeps getting the odd little setback, we can’t put our finger on it but he keeps missing targets.

“He will come here a little short of peak fitness and ‘prime’ Malc. But there’s lots of prize-money, six furlongs we think is his trip for now and the ground should be OK.

“A nice flat track should be good for him as well. On peak form, he’s only dropped a few pounds at 99, he’s on the right side of the handicapper.”

Musley Bank trainer Fahey has another runner in the form of 2022 winner Strike Red, while Secret Guest goes for Bryan Smart and York-based trainer Craig Lidster has The Bell Conductor.

Kevin Ryan saddles Room Service, Aleezdancer and Sergeant Wilko, while Tinto and Woven line up for Michael Dods and Germanic starts for William Haggas in a 22-strong line-up.

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