WITH York having plenty to offer aside from the big races and plenty of action there and elsewhere over the weekend, it has unsurprisingly been a busy week for the notebook, with a number of horses taking the eye in victory and defeat. I’ll start with a couple of impressive winners who didn’t get a mention in the race reports, but who both look capable of going to the top.

The Convivial Maiden Stakes is one of the most valuable maidens of the entire year, and it’s a rarity for it not to throw up at least one blacktype winner. This year’s renewal looked strong on paper and was won in fine style by the Ralph Beckett-trained Angelo Buonarroti, and there are a couple of points worth making about the son of Justify.

An expensive breeze-up buy, the colt made his racecourse debut in the Coventry Stakes and lacked the experience to do himself justice but did get a positive mention for his demeanour in the parade ring, and missives from the Knavesmire were again glowing, with paddock-analyst Vicki Gibbins of Trackside Media praising the colt for his unusually relaxed demeanour in the preliminaries and suggesting that his laid-back attitude could prove to be a big advantage in his development.

Switched stables

He raced at Royal Ascot for Raphael Freire, having initially been with Dominic Ffrench Davis, although that switch was due to Freire, who had been acting as assistant to Ffrench Davis, being granted a licence to train. It’s of more interest that he has moved subsequently to Ralph Beckett, as this signals the healing of relations between the trainer and Kia Joorabchian, who controversially split with Beckett in the middle of 2021. Beckett didn’t train for Amo Racing in 2022 but did have one horse in training last year in the purple and white colours, that being Poniros, a debut winner who has yet to add to that tally.

To entrust a horse of such potential to Ralph Beckett shows that Joorabchian has no intention of cutting off his nose to spite his face, and while he and Beckett may still have their differences, the Kimpton handler is capable of delivering success at classic level, and Kia can’t afford to let personality clashes get in the way of success.

So far, there are only a handful of horses in Amo ownership with Beckett, but success in group company for Angelo Buonarroti might see that change dramatically.

ANOTHER expensive purchase with a top-class page is Estrange (David O’Meara), who is out of a half-sister to St Leger winner Logician from a stellar family which includes Cityscape, Bated Breath and Xaar. She has clearly been slow to mature, moving from John and Thady Gosden to O’Meara before making a belated debut at Goodwood on Sunday in a mile and a quarter fillies’ maiden.

To put the race into context, the form standard was set by a pair rated 78, both of whom looked fairly exposed in similar races. They finished second and fourth, split by a well-bred sort who was making her turf debut having been placed on both all-weather starts. It’s fair to conclude that while none of the trio improved markedly on previous efforts, there is no reason to believe that any of them ran markedly below form, so for the Cheveley Park stud-owned filly to win by five and a half lengths on the bridle makes her a potentially high-class prospect.

Displaying a rounded action which suggests that easy ground may be important to her, Estrange nonetheless looked a class apart from her rivals from the moment Danny Tudhope asked her for an effort, cruising upsides Charlotte’s Web two furlongs out and bounding clear with minimal urging despite showing clear signs of inexperience (carried head high initially). Tudhope was able to ease down over half a furlong from home, such was her superiority, and she would likely have won by ten lengths if ridden to the line.

If there is one note of caution worth sounding, aside from the possibility of soft ground exaggerating her superiority, it’s that she challenged widest on the track in a race where the runners failed to cross over to the stands’ side, as tends to be the favoured route on testing ground at Goodwood. That said, she was merely widest of a tightly packed group and the advantage would not have been huge. If she can get suitable conditions, she has the ability to climb the ranks quickly this autumn, but her inexperience warns against too steep a rise in class. In that respect, she has an excellent handler in David O’Meara, who is loth to overface his horses.

DOMINIC Ffrench Davis may have been a recent loser in the ongoing Amo reshuffle, but he has a useful dual-purpose performer on his hands in the shape of Ithaca’s Arrow, who went back into the notebook at Goodwood when finding the in-form Kitty Foyle just a neck too strong on his return from absence in a 0-80 handicap over a mile and three-quarters there on Saturday, with the pair pulling four lengths clear.

A useful sort as a three-year-old despite failing to score in handicaps, he made into a better hurdler in the spring, coping surprisingly well with testing ground to finish an excellent second at Sandown before winning on a similar surface at Newbury.

He was out of his depth in the Triumph Hurdle but returns to the flat with the benefit of proven stamina, and he is unexposed at a mile and a half or further.

He may have been just in need of the run last week, and was a little fizzy, but he was most tenacious in the finish and only gave best after a sustained battle with a race-fit rival.

Nudged up 3lb for last week’s defeat, he is still lower in the weights than when first sent handicapping last spring and is expected to improve a bit further with his experience over hurdles sure to benefit him.

He never raced on ground softer than good last season, but it now appears that soft or heavy ground is ideal for him, and a wet autumn should see him placed to considerable advantage.