Lingfield Thursday

THERE two listed races at Lingfield on Thursday, and much the most interesting of them was the River Eden Fillies’ Stakes over a mile and five furlongs, with the race won by recent British Champion Fillies And Mares Stakes runner-up Delphinia (Aidan O’Brien/Seamie Heffernan).

The daughter of Galileo was not at all suited by the track, and briefly looked to face an impossible task when the pace quickened off the final bend. She did well to pick up from her position, and rattled home to win by three parts of a length from Hameem, with Nkosikazi a head away in third. She is entered in a similar race at Kempton on Monday.

The feature contest at Newmarket yesterday was the Irish Stallion Farms EBF ‘Bosra Sham’ Fillies’ Stakes, and the listed contest went to Jonny Portman’s Mild Illusion, another example of her trainer’s ability with cheaply bought fillies.

A few years ago Portman enjoyed great success with Mrs Danvers, and like that one, Mild Illusion was a £1,000 purchase at Tattersalls, in her case the humble October Book 3 at Newmarket last autumn.

On her previous start, Mild Illusion had shown much improved form to be a close second to Group 2 winner Under The Stars in the Tattersall’s October Auction Stakes, and she proved that was no fluke by making most of the running here, holding on well to beat Magical Journey and Lady Light by three parts of a length and the same.

Josephine Gordon, kicking herself for not pressing the button sooner in the big sales race, was determined to make amends, and did so in style to brighten a rather disappointing season by her standards.

Aidan O’Brien’s race favourite Precious Moments ran poorly and was subsequently reported to have failed to handle the dip.

There have been some notable performances in the novice chasing division in recent days, and Dan Skelton’s Nube Negra threw down a challenge to the Duque de Alburquerque’s Nereo as the best Spanish-bred chaser to run in England as he skimmed over the stiff Fakenham fences for a facile win over two miles on Wednesday.

Thursday saw what looked a good match between Lisnagar Oscar and Black Op (Tom George/Jonny Burke) at Stratford, but the latter turned the race into a procession with a much-improved display of jumping having been schooled extensively, including at Henrietta Knight’s. He really enjoyed himself under a more positive ride, and while he was third to Lostintranslation and Defi du Seuil in the Dipper Chase last year after a series of mistakes, he can go much higher on this evidence.

Summerville Boy, the 2018 Supreme winner is by the same sire and shares the same connections as Black Op, and he made a winning debut over fences at Uttoxeter on Friday, beating a pair of useful hurdles recruits in First Flow and Western Ryder, but while he showed a decent turn of foot to win in the testing ground, his jumping was very unconvincing, and he needs to sharpen up his technique if he’s going to make the grade.