Laurel booked for Snowdrop assignment

Nick Robson
April 2, 2023 3:19 pm

Kempton run planned for Sun Chariot second.

Sun Chariot runner-up Laurel is to make her return to action in the Racing TV Snowdrop Fillies’ Stakes at Kempton on Easter Monday.

Trained by John and Thady Gosden, the Juddmonte-owned four-year-old made giant strides last season having not made her debut until the end of July.

She won that day at Kempton and returned there in September to defy a penalty before stepping straight into Group One company at Newmarket, beating all bar Fonteyn.

“Laurel is a lovely filly and looks great at the moment. She’s going to start off at Kempton in the Snowdrop on Monday week,” said Juddmonte’s Barry Mahon.

What a moment for Neil Callan! ⭐️
Fonteyn wins the Royal Bahrain Sun Chariot Stakes 🥇#ITVRacing | @NewmarketRace | @neilcallan78 | @kevinryanracing pic.twitter.com/Q344aIGpTl

— ITV Racing (@itvracing) October 1, 2022

“She’s in good form and hopefully she’ll have a good year. She’ll have no penalty at Kempton, she handles the all-weather having won there twice and we’ll try to get her season up and going.

“She’s not a stakes winner yet, so the aim will be to make her a stakes winner and then progress throughout the year.”

Another lightly-raced Juddmonte filly who made giant strides last season was Ralph Beckett’s Haskoy.

She was another to win her first two outings, the second a Listed race at York, before being stepped up in distance and class for the St Leger in which she crossed the line second before being placed fourth due to causing interference.

Haskoy (right) just got the better of fellow Juddmonte-owned filly Time Lock at York (Mike Egerton/PA)

“She’s in great form, I saw her on Wednesday at Ralph’s. She had a nice break during the winter when she came back to the farm,” said Mahon.

“We probably threw her in at the deep end a little bit going for a St Leger on just her third start, so we gave her a good break and she went back to Ralph in January.

“She’s probably a little way off a run, I’d say you wouldn’t see her for six or seven weeks yet but she’s done well and she’s a filly we’re looking forward to this year.

“I think we’ll be starting her over a mile and a half. She won the Galtres over that trip at York so we know she’s effective at that distance.

“We’ve got Westover for the Coronation Cup I suppose but she’s a nice filly, we know she stays but I don’t know she needs to be going over any further than a mile and six (furlongs), the weakest part of her race in the Leger was probably the last 50 yards.

“She’s definitely an exciting filly though, her and the filly that was second at York, Time Lock. They are two good four-year-olds to go to war with.”