Sly hoping for Newmarket rain ahead of Beau bid

Molly Hunter
May 4, 2024 12:57 pm

Dahlia Stakes contender would prefer cut in the ground for Group Two test.

Pam Sly’s Astral Beau will appreciate any rain that falls over Newmarket ahead of the William Hill Dahlia Stakes.

The five-year-old is owned and bred by the Sly family and is the granddaughter of their 1000 Guineas winner Speciosa.

Third in this contest last season, the bay is familiar with the Rowley Mile having won on the course twice in four outings.

She started her season by defending her Doncaster Mile tile but found Roger Varian’s Charyn too strong, with that horse subsequently boosting the form with victory in the Group Two bet365 Mile at Sandown.

Astral Beau in action on the July course (John Walton/PA)

“She’s very well, we’re just hoping it will rain,” said Sly.

“She’s looking out of her stable door saying ‘please rain!’.

“She was third in this last year and I think it’s not quite such a good race, but perhaps I’m wrong.

“She’s won at Newmarket and on the July course and she’s been placed in some Group races there too, she seems in good order so we’ll see.”

Of Charyn’s subsequent success, Sly added: “I thought that was good form, he did beat us quite easily but he has been placed in three Group Ones so I think that bodes well.”

Smart one for @ChappetRacing? Crown Princesse wins the Group 3 Prix Cleopatre under Ioritz Mendizabal…
Wonderful Tonight’s half-sister, Heartache Tonight, ran a credible third on her reappearance! pic.twitter.com/Yhybvp5UJy
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) April 21, 2023

David Menuisier will run Heartache Tonight in the race, a half-sister to his top mare Wonderful Tonight who runs in the same blue and yellow silks of co-owner Chris Wright.

The four-year-old steps back in trip after a beaten effort in the Group Two Prix de Pomone at Deauville on her final outing last term, though prior to that she secured some good placed form over shorter distances in the Prix Cleopatre and the Prix Saint-Alary.

“She was meant to go to Nottingham on Tuesday and the meeting was abandoned, I was looking for an easy option first time out and it wasn’t to be but the filly is ready to go,” said Menuisier.

“I entered her in the Dahlia just in case it was going to be abandoned and the filly is in good shape. I felt that I ran her over too far last year, so it will be interesting to see her over a mile and one (furlong).

“She wasn’t beaten far (in the Prix Cleopatre and the Prix Saint-Alary), she always looked like she was hitting a flat spot and then ran on.

“We can interpret those races from the angle we want, sometimes when they want to run over further that’s what they do, and then they pick up again.

“The Pomone was probably too far, so it will be interesting, we are going back to basics to try to gauge the filly and then we will see what to do next.”

Silver Lady winning the bet365 European Breeders' Fund Maiden Fillies' Stakes — Silver Lady winning the bet365 European Breeders’ Fund Maiden Fillies’ Stakes (Tim Goode/PA)

Charlie Appleby runs the Godolphin filly Silver Lady, a four-year-old daughter of Sea The Stars who was last seen winning the Group Two Cape Verdi at Meydan in January.

She is well-fancied along with John and Thady Gosden’s Running Lion, a grey daughter of Roaring Lion with a Listed victory and a Group Three placing to her name.

Hughie Morrison runs Stay Alert, a Group One runner-up in the Pretty Polly at the Curragh last season, while Jack Channon is represented by Oaks third Caernarfon and Gary and Josh Moore have entered Novus.