Newmarket Saturday

CONTINUING the apparent theme of the day, Henry Candy’s seven-year-old Limato (Adam Kirby) defied age and the lack of a run to run out a decisive winner of the Betway Criterion Stakes, rewarding his backers at a surprisingly big SP of 5/1.

He travelled very well, and when Kirby managed to find the gap he’d been waiting for inside the final furlong, he was always going to win, and he stormed clear up the hill to put three and a half lengths between himself and Happy Power (Andrew Balding/Rob Hornby), with the visored Turjomaan third for Roger Varian and Jim Crowley.

The winner often improves for a run, but was clearly cherry-ripe for this return, and made it back-to-back wins in this contest. A top-class performer since his three-year-old days, Limato was putting up his best performance in some time, and although it’s four years since he won the July Cup, he has lost little of that inherent ability, albeit best suited by seven furlongs these days.

“I knew he was going to run well as he was a nightmare to saddle and he’s just an amazing horse,” said Henry Candy after the race, adding that Adam Kirby felt that he was in the form of his life. Tempting though another crack at the July Cup may be with few starts around at that trip, connections seem to feel that the time for experimenting with trip is over, and he will reportedly be campaigned at this seven-furlong trip for the remainder of the campaign.

Appleby’s Star lands the Fairway

THE Fairway Stakes over a mile and a quarter at Newmarket looked a match on paper, and so it transpired, with Charlie Appleby’s Volkan Star proving too good for market rival Thunderous, with the others 12 lengths and more away.

This race is usually run in May, and has a habit of throwing up high-class winners, with David Junior, Red Rocks and Lucarno taking the race in consecutive years from 2005 before going on to Group 1 glory. However, the move to late June did not increase the quality of the contest, for all the winner is improving all the time, here paying a handsome compliment to Mishriff, who beat him easily in the Newmarket Stakes over course and distance the time before.

On Sunday, the first of two listed races on the card was the Empress Stakes for juvenile fillies, which went to a useful sort in the shape of Ralph Beckett’s Timescale, who justified 6/4 favouritism with a comprehensive beating of Concessions.

Pretty smart

The daughter of Charm Spirit won by six lengths on her debut, and while the proximity to Royal Ascot means this race tends to lack a star turn, she is clearly pretty smart, and well worth her place in stronger company.

Oisín Murphy clearly likes her, and thinks she can make the jump to group company, with the Princess Margaret Stakes (six furlongs) at Ascot and Prix Robert Papin (five and a half furlongs) at Maisons-Laffitte both under consideration for her.

The mile-and-a-half Fred Archer Stakes was a run-of-the-mill contest on paper, but it did throw up an exciting finish, with three horses inseparable 10 yards from the line. At the post, David Simcock’s Universal Order (Callum Shepherd) proved just the strongest of the trio to deny El Misk and Pablo Escobarr by a short-head and a neck.

The winner was confirming form with the third from Meydan in the early spring, but was doing so on 11lb worse terms, showing himself to be improving.

Pickings will be tougher under a penalty at this level, or indeed tackling Group 3 company.