Conditions key as Boughey outlines Cachet options

PA Sport Reporters
September 26, 2023 3:38 pm

Trainer seeking good ground for 2022 Classic winner.

George Boughey will wait until later in the week before deciding whether to send Cachet to France for Sunday’s Prix de la Foret or wait for the Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket the following Saturday.

Last season’s 1000 Guineas heroine did not run between Royal Ascot last summer and this year’s St Leger Festival at Doncaster, an absence totalling exactly 15 months.

The Highclere Thoroughbred Racing-owned filly could finish only fourth in the Group Three Sceptre Stakes on Town Moor, but Boughey was far from discouraged given the length of her absence and the fact underfoot conditions were more testing than ideal.

Having been pleased with what he saw from his Classic winner in a racecourse gallop on the Rowley Mile on Tuesday, Boughey is not ruling out a trip across the Channel for a Group One assignment on Arc weekend – but will be keeping an eye on the weather before making a final call.

“I was pleased with Cachet this morning and she is a lot tighter than she was on her seasonal debut. Mathematically she is a lot fitter on the scales,” said the Newmarket handler.

“The plan had been to go to France for the Foret as she would have loved the seven furlongs around the bend there and there is a stronger favourite in the Sun Chariot (Inspiral) than the Foret.

“However, the weather looks like scuppering that so we will probably aim her at the Sun Chariot now.

“The ground was too soft for her at Doncaster and hopefully it will be much quicker at Newmarket. We know she stays the mile and she should run well.”

Another Boughey-trained filly to be put through her paces on the Rowley Mile on Tuesday was Soprano, who will be stepped up to Group One level in Saturday’s Juddmonte Cheveley Park Stakes.

Although winless since making an impressive start to her career at Newmarket in May, the daughter of Starspangledbanner has since been placed in the Albany at Royal Ascot, the Star Stakes at Sandown, the Sweet Solera at Newmarket and the Dick Poole Fillies’ Stakes at Salisbury.

With regular work rider Charles Eddery in the saddle, Soprano looked the part in her morning gallop and Boughey feels she merits a place in the Cheveley Park field.

He said: “I’m delighted with her. She worked with a decent four-year-old that is a five-furlong horse rated in the 90s and she showed plenty of pace. 

“Charles Eddery, who rides her regularly, was delighted with her so it is all systems go to the Cheveley Park. She looks better than ever.

“She is a very balanced filly, which is so key at Newmarket, and she won on her debut at the track. I think she has got to have a lively chance.”