Running Lion could be bound for Chantilly rather than Epsom
John Gosden was hesitant to commit to a tilt at the Betfred Oaks with Running Lion following her dominant success in the Howden Pretty Polly Stakes at Newmarket.
The three-year-old was sent off at 100-30 for the Listed contest following a hat-trick of all-weather wins and was always travelling strongly in the hands of Oisin Murphy.
Once given her head, Running Lion soon put clear daylight between herself and her rivals and passed the post with four and a half lengths in hand over the runner-up Sumo Sam.
Betfred immediately slashed the winner to 7-1 for 20-1 for Epsom – but having seen her sire Roaring Lion come up short in the stamina department when third in the 2018 Derby, Gosden raised the French equivalent, the Prix de Diane, as a possible alternative.
This LION knows how to RUN! 🦁
RUNNING LION, one of very few Roaring Lion cubs, has some serious gears to eat up the Howden Pretty Polly Stakes…@Betfred Oaks? 👀 #QIPCOGuineas pic.twitter.com/2fkRgmFH8L
— Newmarket Racecourse (@NewmarketRace) May 7, 2023
“We’re delighted with her. We brought her down here for a piece of work and Oisin said we should go for the Pretty Polly rather than the 1000 Guineas as she’ll need the mile and a quarter, so we’ve made the right decision,” said the Clarehaven handler.
“Roaring Lion was a wonderful horse with all the Group Ones that he won. He won the Dante in tremendous style, we went to the Derby, he was the last one off the bridle and didn’t see out the mile and a half, so it will be very interesting with this filly whether she’s more Prix de Diane or a mile-and-a-half Oaks filly. We’ll have to give that a bit of thought.
“Anything’s possible and you’ve got more trials to come. There’s the Musidora at York and the Newbury trial and the filly of Sir Michael Stoute’s who won here on Friday (Infinite Cosmos) looked very classy, so we’ll see how it shapes up.”
He added: “The jockey’s first reaction was to possibly stay at a mile and a quarter and I’m always interested as to what they say when they come back straight away, not when they’ve had time to think.
“We made the mistake with Roaring Lion, who hit the line strongly in the Dante but didn’t see out the trip in the Derby, so we’ll give it a lot of thought.
“The idea would be to go to one of the Oaks, which one it is I don’t know. We won the Diane last year (with Nashwa) and it’s a wonderful race, you just don’t want a bad draw.”
HMS President finished with a flourish to secure top honours in the £100,000 Howden Handicap.
Torcello gave a bold sight in front for much of the one-mile-six-furlong contest, but was unable to resist the late charge of Alan King’s 7-1 shot, with a neck separating them at the line.
Adjuvant also came home strongly to dead-heat with Torcello for second.
King’s assistant, Robin Smith, said of the Rossa Ryan-ridden winner: “I thought he got a bump early on and that lit him up and Rossa did a good job of managing him from then on.
“I thought if he could keep the horse on his outside (Adjuvant) behind him he’d keep finding and these big fields probably suit him as they go a gallop and come back to him if they go hard in front, like they did today.
“He’s a very talented horse and we’re very pleased to have him. The plan for some time has been to come here today and we’ll see where we go from here.”
Charlie Appleby followed up his earlier success with Adayar when newcomer On Point (8-11 favourite) dug deep to win the Howden British EBF Maiden Stakes.
The son of Blue Point is now likely to head to Sandown’s National Stakes before a Royal Ascot tilt.
“He’s been an honest little horse and a straightforward horse. He’s been very professional and we know the family on both sides so we were very keen to have a Blue Point winner.
“It’s fantastic and what you love to see is that he’s shown all the characteristics that his dad showed as a two-year-old, with showing up early and having natural speed. He was a bit fresh in the paddock when saddling beforehand, but you don’t mind that. You’d rather them get a feel for it all before the jockey gets on.
“As William (Buick) said, It’s hard to really assess as it was a bit of a two and a half furlong burn up, but he’s done it and knuckled down and we’ll hopefully get another run into him before we start making Ascot assessments. I’d say we’ll probably take a look (at the National Stakes), I’m always keen to try to get two runs in before Ascot.
“It’s a big day and a big occasion and sometimes you can lose a horse there (if you have only had one run previously). It takes a while to get them back and at least if they’ve cut their teeth a couple of times they’ve a bit better understanding of it all.”
