Tag Archive for: Hugo Palmer

Hackman leaves Owen purring after Chester victory

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Michael Owen cut a delighted figure in the Chester winner’s enclosure when Hackman surged to an impressive victory in the British EBF Ruby Anniversary Maiden Stakes.

The former England international famously relishes winners at his home track and had his first success on the Roodee with Treble Heights in 2002.

Trained by Hugo Palmer, Hackman was the 11-8 favourite in the hands of James Doyle and having bounced out of the stalls, made every yard to register an easy one-and-three-quarter-length victory.

Hackman returns after winning at Chester
Hackman returns after winning at Chester (PA)

It is a race Owen has tasted plenty of success in over the years and with the precocious son of Mehmas fittingly winning the race his sire landed in 2016, connections are now dreaming of a trip to Royal Ascot later in the summer.

“His work at home suggested he’d come on a bundle for his debut,” said Palmer.

“I was nervous would he get the five furlongs, but he saw it out well. We are now dreaming of the Norfolk Stakes and maybe Sandown at the end of the month.”

Owen added: “He’s a really good horse and he’s very fast – he’s five furlongs through and through.

“This place means a lot to me and to win here means a lot. It’s an important meeting and we’re on the board with what we thought was our best chance of the week. He’s a nice horse and we’ve always thought Royal Ascot with him and I don’t think he’s changed our minds there.

“I really wanted to win that one. I’ve been fortunate to win plenty of races around the world and Group Ones and people might be thinking ‘a poxy little maiden round Chester’ but I wanted to win that one.

“He is just everything you want in an early two-year-old, he jumps quick and he’s a little bull of a horse. He’s great and I love him.”

Balon D’Or aiming to hit Agnes target for Owen

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Hugo Palmer’s highly-regarded Balon D’Or has a wide draw to overcome in the Caa Stellar Lily Agnes Conditions Stakes on the opening day of the Boodles May Festival at Chester.

The Kodiac colt is owned and was bred by Michael Owen – and named as a nod to the revered annual football award he won in 2001, the former England striker saying he hoped he had “saved a special name for a special horse.”

Balon D’Or made his debut in early April and was a taking winner when coming home a neck to the good, especially considering he was carried markedly right by another horse the moment he left the stalls.

His Chester draw in stall 11, widest of all, does not help his cause but some of the field could defer to a maiden event on Thursday and so he could find himself more handily placed come post time.

“He did really well on debut and I think he’s come forward for it, but he’s got a terrible draw,” Palmer said.

“He’s been given a mountain to climb but that is the luck of the draw, he’s well and we’ll just have to see how we go as there might be some non runners which would help.”

Palmer has a second runner in the contest in Tierney, a Mehmas filly out of a four-time winning mare called Madam Macie who makes her debut in the race.

“She’s a nice filly. Like all of ours, she will come forward and improve for her debut but she’s a nice speedy filly that we like.”

Curragh-based trainer John O’Donoghue is set to have his first Chester runner in debut winner Parkside Boy.

The Kuroshio colt is out of top racemare Carry On Katie, a Group One heroine who won both the Lowther Stakes and the Cheveley Park in 2003.

He ran for the first time in a Dundalk maiden in mid April and duly won by half a length under Ronan Whelan, with this Chester contest then quickly identified as his next target.

“He’s been trained for this race since he won at Dundalk, we feel that a sharp, turning five furlongs is very much his forte,” O’Donoghue said.

“Thankfully we’ve got a bit of luck with the draw in stall four, so we’re looking forward to getting him out again.

“He’s precocious and we didn’t waste any time between when he was broken and pre-trained and then sent to us. Hopefully he’s as effective as his frame and his pedigree suggest at this time of year as a two-year-old.”

Middleham Park Racing own the first two horses in the market in Ziggy’s Phoenix and Ziggy’s Dream, trained by Richard Hannon and Alice Haynes respectively.

Ziggy’s Phoenix was beaten a length on her debut at Kempton in April, after which she headed to Ripon for her first run on turf in a five-furlong novice.

There she was a comfortable winner, crossing the line a length and three-quarters ahead of her nearest rival under Joe Fanning as the 11-4 joint favourite.

Ziggy’s Dream has only one run under her belt but it was a winning performance at Doncaster, where she landed a five-furlong maiden by a length and a quarter on soft ground.

“They’re both named by the same person (co-owner) Simon Woods, it’s a privilege to have two runners in this prestigious race,” said Tim Palin of Middleham Park.

“We won this in 2011 with Lily’s Angel and these are two really nice fillies, we didn’t want to run them (against each other) but both trainers were keen to run so we declared them.

“They’ve both got soft ground form, any rain that falls shouldn’t hinder them – it might even just enhance their chances a wee bit because both horses will stay further.

“They’ll both get six furlongs in time. I think the reason Ziggy’s Phoenix is favoured by the betting market is just that she’s drawn in that pole position, she’s drawn one whereas as Ziggy’s Dream’s (stall six) form is just as good I think, the Racing Post say 3lb better and Timeform say four.

“They’re two nice fillies and hopefully after the first 100 yards they’ll be in the first wave and may the best Ziggy win, may the best horse in the race win.

“We’re there with our two fillies, we think they’re nice and hopefully they’ll be involved in the finish.”

Palmer keen on Guineas bid for Stenton Glider

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Stenton Glider booked her ticket for the Qipco 1000 Guineas when narrowly touched off at Newbury on Saturday.

Reeled in by Ralph Beckett’s Remarquee, with both fillies having just their second starts, the Fred Darling looked well up to standard as a Classic trial this year.

Having won a Chester novice on her debut in September, Stenton Glider was due to run in December, but refused to go in the stalls. She appeared to have done well through the winter, however, and looked in rude health in the Newbury paddock.

Trainer Hugo Palmer believes the striking daughter of Dandy Man warrants her place in the Rowley Mile fillies’ Classic on Sunday week after such a narrow defeat under Tom Marquand.

“Handsome is as handsome does,” laughed the Cheshire-based handler.

“As a trainer, you can’t go making expensive entries like the Guineas with a maiden winner, get beaten two-foot in a trial and then say ‘no’.

“She has got to step up and she’s a 25-1 shot, but she’s only two-foot behind a 6-1 shot. Two foot is nothing.”

Stenton Glider showed plenty of ability, taking a keen hold in the Group Three contest, before being collared inside the last 150 yards.

Palmer has no qualms about the additional furlong in the Guineas as he seeks another Classic success following Galileo Gold’s 2000 Guineas victory in 2016 and the Irish Oaks success of Covert Love in 2015.

He added: “She is going to meet a different test at Newmarket. She’s going to meet a big field and she is going to meet undulations and almost certainly going to encounter quicker ground.

“She showed loads of speed, but I’m certain she’ll stay – and Tom Marquand said a mile will be absolutely no problem to her.

“All her work suggests she’s a miler. She showed loads of speed, but they went very steady. Nothing wanted to lead, the time was very slow for good fillies.

Hugo Palmer feels the Rowley Mile will suit Stenton Glider
Hugo Palmer feels the Rowley Mile will suit Stenton Glider (Mike Egerton/PA)

“We feel she will be better on better ground. She could possibly have been a non-runner if her owner hadn’t given up tickets for the snooker World Championships to come and watch her!”

Along with her son Tom, Jane Mairs owns the filly, who is named after the famous racing bicycle invented by her grandfather, Percy Stenton.

The Stenton Glider Cycle Company was based in Ardwick, Manchester, and advertised its machines as ‘The cycle that gives you a sporting chance’.

Palmer added: “Jane’s maiden name was Stenton and her grandfather invented the first drop-handled racing bike, which was called the Stenton Glider, which debuted at the Olympics in the 1920s (Amsterdam 1928).

“All racing bikes now have handles in the drop-handle position and for Jane, who has owned horses in syndicates for a number of years, it has always been her dream to have a horse and call it Stenton Glider.”

Flaming Rib (centre) runs in Hong Kong on Sunday
Flaming Rib (centre) runs in Hong Kong on Sunday (Tim Goode/PA)

Meanwhile, Palmer’s high-class sprinter Flaming Rib, who was runner-up to Perfect Power in the Commonwealth Cup last summer and took a valuable sprint in Doha in February, has settled in well ahead of Sunday’s bid for the six-furlong Chairman’s Sprint Prize in Hong Kong.

“Flaming Rib is in good order,” said Palmer. “He was invited and he has got to raise his game to feature, but he has travelled over there in good shape and seems to love getting on an aeroplane.

“He won well in Doha and seemed to be on the wrong side in Dubai, the way the race panned out.

“It is over six furlongs and he does seem to have produced his best efforts round a bend.”