So full of promise when scoring with authority on his sole juvenile start over seven furlongs at Doncaster in October, Royal Artillery was too green and under-cooked when staying on late to be fourth on his next outing in Sandown's Listed Heron S. over a mile May 26. He may have been undone by soft ground when finishing fifth in first-time cheekpieces in the G3 Tercentenary S. over 10 furlongs at Royal Ascot last time June 16 and so entered this initial encounter with the older horses still unexposed and open to improvement on a quicker surface. Sent up to race with the favourite Scottish in a close-up second throughout, the dark bay was asked to put the pressure on in early straight as Arab Spring looked for room on the rail. Gaining the advantage 1 1/2 out, the imposing Royal Artillery lugged in towards Scottish but despite causing some intimidation was in command at the line to set a new track record as Arab Spring closed too late on his belated return to action.
Winning rider Colm O'Donoghue was complimentary about the substantial Royal Artillery afterwards, saying, “He's a lovely progressive horse. Mr Gosden has always liked him. He's a big, scopey horse and will get better with time. He's come back well from his last race at Ascot and will step up to another level now. We've gone a good gallop for a mile and a quarter. He was getting a bit tired towards the end.” The trainer's travelling head lad Tony Proctor added, “He's always shown a lot of ability at home. He's got a tongue tie for a reason–he's had a slight wind problem. He'll be a better horse next year. He was slow to start this year and there's more to come. He's a big horse and the weather we've had this year hasn't been kind to him.”
Regally-bred, the winner is currently the last known foal and first winner for the GII Dance Smartly S. and GIII Beaugay H. scorer Masseuse, who is the best of three stakes winners bred from Pedicure. She is also the second dam of the Argentinian group 1 winner Peristaltica (Arg) (Interprete {Arg}), while the third dam Footy is responsible for the GI Frizette S. third Footing (Forty Niner), who is in turn the granddam of the GII Del Mar Derby hero Banned (Kitten's Joy). This is also the family of the triple graded-stakes scorer Forty Tales (Tale of the Cat).
Saturday, Haydock, Britain
BETFRED ROSE OF LANCASTER S.-G3, £63,000, HAY, 8-6, 3yo/up, 10f 95yT, 2:07.71 (NTR), g/f.
1–#@ROYAL ARTILLERY, 120, c, 3, by War Front">War Front
1st Dam: Masseuse (MGSW-Can & GSW-US, $439,652), by Dynaformer
2nd Dam: Pedicure, by Mr. Prospector
3rd Dam: Footy, by Topsider
($450,000 Wlg '13 FTKNOV). O-Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor & Derrick Smith; B-JPR Stable LLC (KY); T-John Gosden; J-Colm O'Donoghue. £35,727. Lifetime Record: 4-2-0-0, $58,028. Werk Nick Rating: D+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.[bullet ad=”kbif-g2g3″][bullet ad=”irt-shell”][bullet ad=”darbydan-shell”][bullet ad=”us-bred-ky-bred-ft-grad”]2–Scottish (Ire), 129, g, 4, Teofilo (Ire)–Zeiting (Ire), by Zieten. (€170,000 Ylg '13 GOFORB). O-Godolphin; B-Knocktoran Stud (IRE); T-Charlie Appleby. £13,545.
3–Arab Spring (Ire), 129, h, 6, Monsun (Ger)–Spring Symphony (Ire), by Darshaan (GB). O/B-Ballymacoll Stud Farm Ltd (IRE); T-Sir Michael Stoute. £6,779.
Margins: 1 1/4, NO, 1. Odds: 10.00, 1.75, 2.25.
Also Ran: Gabrial (Ire), Foundation (Ire), Fire Fighting (Ire). Scratched: Bazooka (Ire). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
