Tag Archive for: James Tate

Tate eyeing Royal Ascot for juvenile pair

/in /by

James Tate will run exciting colt Blue Storm in the National Stakes at Sandown on Thursday week as he winds up his team for Royal Ascot.

Blue Storm, a son of Darley’s first-season sire Blue Point, looked a smart prospect when beating six rivals on debut in a five-furlong novice at Newmarket last month.

Newmarket trainer Tate also unveiled another potentially decent sprinter in the shape of Natural Force, a son of Land Force, who won a similar event at Ascot under Neil Callan on Saturday.

Both colts look set for the Royal meeting next month.

Tate said: “We were absolutely delighted with Natural Force. Hopefully we will have a couple of nice two-year-olds to go to war with this year – him and Blue Storm.

“Blue Storm hasn’t run for a while. We have saved him for the National Stakes a week on Thursday and if we’re lucky enough for all to go well in that, we will be off to Ascot afterwards.

“Natural Force, when you obviously win first time at Ascot, your immediate thought would be Royal Ascot. He is all good and we will have a chat with owner Saeed Manana.

“The only question is really whether he wants to go straight there or whether he will wants to take on something in the middle. The timescale is getting a little bit tighter.”

Tate was pleased that Natural Force gained some course experience, which is likely to stand him in good stead should he return for the Royal meeting.

He added: “He took the whole prelims and things well, because obviously Royal Ascot is a very exciting place for a two-year-old and we’ve had more than one been over-faced by it in the past.

“Neil (Callan) said he was very professional and very easy, and won with a bit in hand, so let’s hope he is right.

“I would have thought he will stay at five (furlongs), with the Windsor Castle for him and the Norfolk for Blue Storm.”

Royal Aclaim worked well on Sunday ahead of a possible Haydock run
Royal Aclaim worked well on Sunday ahead of a possible Haydock run (Nigel French/PA)

Meanwhile, Royal Aclaim, who won the Listed City Walls Stakes at York before finishing sixth to Highfield Princess in the Group One Nunthorpe at the same venue last summer, could head make her return at Haydock in a fortnight’s time.

“She galloped on Sunday morning and all was good,” said Tate. “I would have thought she would end up at Haydock the weekend after next.

“There is a six-furlong fillies’ Listed race, the Cecil Frail, on the Friday and and a five-furlong Group Two on the Saturday, the Temple Stakes. All being well, we’d like to get her back in one of those two races.

“Obviously, that would fit nicely for Royal Ascot afterwards, if all went well. We would like to try her over six furlongs at some stage. Whether we do it before Ascot or after Ascot I don’t know.”

Tate ‘not averse’ to stepping up in trip with Royal Aclaim

/in /by

James Tate is not ruling out a step up to six furlongs with his talented filly Royal Aclaim.

The four-year-old caught the eye last season when winning a Bath novice in June and then going on to comfortably land the Listed City Walls Stakes at York in July.

That form was stacked on top of a debut win the previous season when the daughter of Aclaim defeated Richard Fahey’s subsequent Group One winner Perfect Power on the all-weather.

After the York success a return to the Knavesmire for the Nunthorpe was the next target for Royal Aclaim, but the race did not go to plan and she was sixth of 13 runners.

Connections regrouped and headed to France for the Group Three Prix du Petit Couvert at ParisLongchamp, a race in which the filly was third on soft ground behind subsequent Group Three winner Coeur De Pierre and ahead of Prix de l’Abbaye runner-up White Lavender.

Royal Aclaim at York
Royal Aclaim at York (Nigel French/PA)

Royal Aclaim is now preparing for the new season and is likely to be seen again in May, with a step up to six furlongs under consideration as her campaign is pondered.

Tate said: “She’s good, she’s cantering and swimming away. There are races for her in April but I think it’s more likely she’ll reappear in May.

“The ground was a little bit softer than ideal in France, there was a little bit of a golden strip by the rail that day that she didn’t quite get on to.

“The form stacked up well in the Abbaye, those horses that were in and around her were placed in that a couple of weeks later.

“There was nothing wrong with that run, I’d like to think she’s got the scope to progress more this year and I wouldn’t be averse to trying six (furlongs) with her one day too as she seems to relax well, so that could be something to look forward to through the year.”

Smart James Tate performers all set for action this week

/in /by

The James Tate duo of Iconic Moment and New Definition are set to cross paths again in the Woodford Reserve Cardinal Conditions Stakes at Chelmsford on Saturday.

The pair faced one another in the Listed Spring Cup Stakes at Lingfield earlier in the month, where Iconic Moment maintained his undefeated record to prevail by a short head from his stablemate.

A winner of two prior novices, Iconic Moment is a lightly-raced son of Harry Angel who looked green during his Listed triumph, but has obvious ability that Tate hopes will be enhanced by a step up to a mile – and transfer to turf in time.

He said: “He’s a horse with a lot of talent and potential, he hasn’t quite got it all together yet but despite that he is three from three.

“We think stepping him up to the mile is going to help him so that will be interesting for both of them on Saturday because they’ve both only raced as far as seven furlongs so far.

“So far he has only run on the all-weather, but he’s certainly bred to run on grass and goes nicely on grass.

“The question is what level is he going to be, but I’d like to think he’d be running in Group races over seven furlongs or a mile on the turf hopefully.”

New Definition is a more experienced horse and will make his 13th start at the weekend, with his pedigree familiar to Tate as he trained both the dam, Second Generation, and the grand dam, El Manati.

Both were good quality sprinters and the colt is by Invincible Spirit, leaving the trainer pleasantly surprised by how the three-year-old has handled a step up in distance.

He said: “It’s been a bit of surprise that’s he’s getting the distance because he’s from a family I know well, I trained his dam to win a five-furlong Listed sprint and I trained his grand dam to just get touched off in the Cornwallis.

“He’s by Invincible Spirit so you’d have thought he’d be all about speed, but he does seems to have stepped up his form a little bit in his last two runs over seven (furlongs) so this run over a mile will be interesting, and I’d be pretty confident he’ll be every bit as good on the grass.”

Tate has also used the all-weather to bring on the promising four-year-old Mount Athos, a wide-margin winner of two novice events last year.

Taking a Thirsk contest in June by five lengths and a Kempton event in October by the same distance, the bay will now return to the latter track over course and distance on Wednesday rather than take up a Listed Cammidge Trophy entry at Doncaster on Saturday.

“We did toy with the idea of putting him in at the deep end in that Doncaster race, but by the looks of the forecast it is going to be pretty soft and there’d be a lot of unknowns about that,” said Tate.

“We’ve decided to stick with what we know he’s good at, he won over course and distance at Kempton by five lengths on his last start and he looks to have improved over the winter so we’re very hopeful for Wednesday.

“We’d like to think that he’s a Pattern horse, but he obviously needs to prove that on the track.

“We’ve a few nice ones this year, I hope, but we’ll find out a bit more about them when we run them against everyone else’s nice ones!”