Staying prizes on Arrest’s agenda following Newmarket second

Adam Morgan
July 14, 2024 12:38 pm

The Irish St Leger and Long Distance Cup outlined as possible targets.

Arrest will likely step back up in trip having returned to near his best when second in Newmarket’s Princess of Wales’s Stakes.

Sent off favourite for last year’s Derby before finishing second in the St Leger, the highly-regarded son of Frankel is yet to get his head in front in three starts this year.

However, after a respectable second at Chester, the John and Thady Gosden-trained four-year-old showed plenty of zest when encountering his preferred going on the July course, making a bold bid before being overtaken late in the day by Marco Botti’s Giavellotto.

Arrest finished a place ahead of fellow Juddmonte-owned Time Lock and the colt could now be aimed at the Curragh’s Comer Group International Irish St Leger on September 16 as connections seek both a move up in trip and a return to the winner’s enclosure.

Arrest (left) chased home Giavellotto at Newmarket (David Davies for the Jockey Club/PA)

“The two of them ran beautiful races and Arrest was back to somewhere near last year’s form,” said Juddmonte’s European racing manager Barry Mahon.

“Kieran (Shoemark, jockey) thought he would improve again for that run and he is a horse we will look at something like the Irish St Leger with, or even the race on Champions Day (Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup, Ascot, October 19) later in the year.

“He’s a horse who likes a bit of cut in the ground as we know and it’s good to have him back – hopefully we can look forward to an exciting second half of the season.

“He loves getting his toe in and in fairness to him, he likes a race where there is a good tempo and he can get into a nice rhythm and when he does that he is very effective. When there is a slow, messy pace it is not really his cup of tea. He’s a big horse, big stride and he just likes to have a nice rhythm.”

Time Lock winning on the Rowley Mile in 2023 (Tim Goode/PA)

Meanwhile, Harry Charlton’s Time Lock will head to the Qatar Goodwood Festival as she continues her quest for black type in her swansong campaign.

Mahon added: “She ran a great race and is a filly who will go to the paddocks at the end of the year and has just finished second in a Group Two.

“It is more black type for the family and we will look at Goodwood for her. There’s two races for her there, the Lillie Langtry and the Glorious Stakes and she will have options in both.

“She is a filly we will just keep bashing away with in group company before she retires at the end of the year.”