Angelo Buonarroti begins to justify hefty price tag

Josh Luckhurst and Nick Robson
August 23, 2024 5:19 pm

Expensive Amo Racing purchase came home strongly to land the Convivial Maiden.

Angelo Buonarroti went some way to recouping his seven-figure purchase price with a determined victory in the British Stallion Studs EBF Convivial Maiden Stakes at York.

The chestnut son of American Triple Crown hero Justify cost Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing operation EURO 1,000,000 at the Arqana Breeze-Up sale in May and was thrown in at the deep end when making his competitive debut in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Having shaped with promise in being beaten just three lengths into ninth place, Angelo Buonarroti was a 2-1 favourite to come out on top in a maiden with a huge prize fund of GBP 100,000 on the Knavesmire and knuckled down well under a positive ride from David Egan to score by a length and a quarter.

The winner was making his first start for Ralph Beckett after moving from Raphael Freire’s yard since his Royal Ascot outing.

“I was kind of lucky, as he got a stone bruise before the maiden at Goodwood he was supposed to run in and I had to scratch him. The extra time probably was a positive and the track suited him better than Goodwood would have done,” said Beckett.

“He’s a good horse, we kind of knew that already, it just depends on how far we go now.

“He could go a mile this year, I think it will be within his scope, but I don’t know whether he needs to yet.

“I don’t know if we’ll go straight into a Group race, we might go for the Flying Scotsman (Listed race at Doncaster) and work our way up. It just depends on how we feel.”

James Doyle got the fractions spot on as he came with a late run aboard Shadow Dance to win the opening Sky Bet Handicap.

The four-year-old had disappointed on his first run since being gelded at Royal Ascot, but bounced back to run well at Ripon last time out when touched off by Ebor contender Iron Lion.

A 6-1 shot for his latest assignment, Roger Varian’s charge dug deep to beat Lieber Power by a neck.

“Winners at the biggest meetings is what it’s all about. He’s a homebred and he’s a lovely horse. He’s got a big heart and a lot of stamina, and he needed every inch of the trip today,” said Varian.

“We came into the year very hopeful with this horse, he didn’t have a great spring and I ran him at Royal Ascot in the Duke of Edinburgh, he wasn’t quite right that day.

“But the run at Ripon was a step in the right direction, and he should go on and have a good autumn.”

Ed Walker continued his brilliant week in North Yorkshire by landing the Assured Data Protection EBF Fillies’ Handicap with Canoodled.

The six-year-old was stepping up to a mile and a quarter for the first time on the Knavesmire and it seemed to do the trick as the 25-1 shot won by a length and a half under Billy Loughnane.

Walker, recording his third winner of this year’s Ebor Festival following a double on Thursday, said of his latest success: “It was amazing, a real pleasant surprise. She’s a funny filly, she’s quirky and a bit of rain last night helped. She was going up in trip and she jumped, so it’s great.

“We will try and get some black type in the autumn with her, like we did last year.

“We’ve had an amazing couple of days, it’s sort of pinch yourself stuff really. It is one of the hardest meetings in the world, so it’s amazing.”

Treasure Time finished with a flourish to provide proud Yorkshireman William Haggas with a birthday winner in the concluding Sky Bet Mile Handicap.

Volterra and Mount Teide were the two to the fore as the race heated up inside the final two furlongs, but Tom Marquand decided to play his cards late aboard 13-2 shot Treasure Time and it paid off, with the three-year-old powering home to get up and beat the former by a length.

Haggas, opening his account for the week on his 64th birthday, said: “I felt he had a nice trip today, everything went smoothly and I thought he did well to win. He finished well, he stayed the mile well and I’m very pleased.

“He’s a bonny horse, he’s not very big but he has a great brain. He doesn’t need any training now he’s fit, he’s a great performer.

“It’s been an awful week. I’m really pleased with that, but it’s been a tough week for us.”