CLIVE Cox has built up quite a reputation as a trainer of high-class sprinters and he added to his laurels when Priceless and Harry Angel gave him a prestigious Group 2 double at Haydock on Saturday.
Priceless, an Exceed And Excel filly, had won at Bath on her reappearance but seemed held on the form of her previous Newmarket run by a couple of reopposing rivals in the Armstrong Aggregates Temple Stakes.
However, she was able to turn the tables here and held the strong late challenge of Goldream by half a length after taking it up a furlong out. Alpha Delphini and Final Venture came next, with Aidan O’Brien’s Washington DC, very easy to back at 3/1, only sixth after struggling to keep up with the pace.
Both Washington DC and Goldream had finished in front of the winner in the Newmarket race but this flatter track suited Priceless and she was good value for the winning margin.
Goldream, none too well away, was switched right and picked up well initially but could make no further impression in the final 75 yards.
“That was first class,” said Cox as Adam Kirby returned on the 11/2 winner. “Priceless has just got better and is maturing into a really strong filly. She is blessed with a lot of speed and switching back to five furlongs was the real key.”
Cox was winning the race for owner Alan Spence for the second year in succession, after Profitable’s win last season.
That horse went on to land the King’s Stand at Royal Ascot and there is every chance Priceless will travel the same road.
Spence must have been very happy, though his Chelsea loyalties took him to Wembley on Saturday, where a below-par effort against Arsenal saw his sporting day balanced up to a degree.
If Priceless (16/1 with Coral) goes for the King’s Stand, two or three of last week’s rivals will no doubt take her on again. Goldream won the Group 1 sprint two years ago, while Quiet Reflection, winner of the Commonwealth Cup, is better than she showed here.
On ground too fast over a trip too short she beat only two home but Karl Burke said she needed a run and she was still on the heavy side. The Diamond Jubilee Stakes is her likely next target.
Cox and Kirby had already lifted the same sponsor’s Sandy Lane Stakes for three-year-olds with 5/6 favourite Harry Angel, who shook off Poet’s Vanity and pulled over four lengths clear of Second Thought and Mubtasim. He gets six furlongs well and the Commonwealth Cup looks the logical target.
“Awesome, wasn’t he?” the trainer said with a grin. “He’s very exciting and it’s great to have him. He’s going the right way and he is a very special horse. He’s taken time to mature but the talent has always been there.”
Harry Angel was beaten by Godolphin’s Blue Point at Ascot last time and they purchased Harry Angel mid week. It may be very close between them should they reoppose for the big Group 1 sprint. That race, on the Friday of the Royal meeting, looks like a cracker with Aidan O’Brien’s Caravaggio due to start favourite.
JOHNSTON TREBLE
Mark Johnston was another trainer who enjoyed a superb afternoon at Haydock, with three winners adding to his gains at Chester and Goodwood with Jaameh and Sutter County respectively.
Yorkidding (3/1) must be a very tough mare because her last two runs had brought narrow defeats in the Chester Cup and at Hamilton. She just outpointed Suegioo and Paris Protocol in the two-mile handicap, while stable-companion Rusumaat (11/2) had more to spare over Indian Dandy in the Amix Silver Bowl over a mile.
The 7/2 shot Sofia’s Rock provided the icing on the cake in the Amix Handicap over a mile and a half.
David Evans is sending out better class winners these days and 14/1 chance Buying Trouble found some modest opposition in the Listed Cecil Frail Stakes over six furlongs. Interestingly, she had finished well behind Priceless at Bath several weeks ago.