Chester Vase (Group 3)

TRAGEDY struck shortly after the line in the Group 3 Chester Vase when impressive winner Hidden Law (Charlie Appleby/William Buick) suffered a fatal injury to his off-fore as he galloped out after the line.

The son of Dubawi had won at Newbury last month to set himself up for a Derby trial, and he quickened in the style of a very smart colt to pass the front-running Agenda (Aidan O’Brien/Tom Marquand) a furlong out before winning by three lengths, but then the accident occurred at the path across the track after the line, his injury too severe to offer any hope of being saved.

Appleby said: “I feel so sorry for His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and Team Godolphin. To have a horse like him potentially coming through the ranks was exciting for everybody. It’s a sad day.”

Cheshire Oaks

Forest Fairy (Ralph Beckett/Rossa Ryan) made her bid for the Betfred Oaks by claiming a narrow success in the Listed Cheshire Oaks on Wednesday.

The pace was set by her stablemate Seaward, and Forest Fairy had to come from behind after missing a beat in the stalls, but she found plenty when Rossa Ryan pulled her wide to challenge Port Fairy (Aidan O’Brien/Ryan Moore) deep inside the last furlong, getting her head in front with feet to spare to win by a head at odds of 9/4.

“She’s still showed a lot of signs of inexperience,” said the winning rider. “I had to come out from behind and be a bit aggressive on her, but you can’t but be impressed by the way she got out and had a look around and still when the job needed to be done, she stuck her head down and galloped right out to the line.

“I’ll leave it up to Ralph and the team to decide where she goes next, but I would imagine that when she gets on softer going conditions, she’ll be a lot better again – and I’d imagine with racing, she’ll get better.

“She got away with the ground today, it’s probably on the slow side of good and I don’t think she’d want it any quicker than that.

Thursday

Tote.co.uk Supporting Racing Ormonde Stakes (Group 3)

POINT Lonsdale provided a double for Aidan O’Brien on Thursday’s card, taking the Group 3 Ormonde Stakes on his first try beyond a mile and a half, and he was making it a double of his own at the track, having also landed the Huxley Stakes over a mile and a quarter 12 months ago.

The 7/2 shot once again showed Ryan Moore’s mastery of the track as he worked a passage towards the inside of the early leader L’Astronome having originally been on the other side of Hugo Palmer’s gelding.

That meant that he was able to save ground on the home turn as Deauville Legend began to falter, whereas race favourite Arrest (John and Thady Gosden/Kieran Shoemark) had to challenge wide of the weakening L’Astronome, conceding crucial ground.

In the end it mattered less than expected as Point Lonsdale went on to win by six and a half lengths over Arrest, who continued to drift right on straightening up and never threatened to land a telling blow, with John Gosden opining that he didn’t enjoy the quick ground.

This win opens up options for Point Lonsdale who has entries at Royal Ascot ranging from the mile and a quarter Prince of Wales’s Stakes to the Gold Cup over double that distance.

CAPULET (pictured above) added another string to Aidan O’Brien’s Derby hand with an all-the-way win under Ryan Moore in the Listed Dee Stakes at Chester. O’Brien will be bidding for a 10th win at Epsom, but whether Capulet will go to Epsom or Chantilly for the French Derby remains to be decided after this win over the distance of the Prix du Jockey Club.

Moore was masterful as usual at Chester, which he rides better than anyone, and he kept his rivals on the stretch while asking just enough of his mount. The final challenge came from the Richard Hughes-trained Bracken’s Laugh (Finley Marsh), who had beaten the winner in a valuable conditions race on the all-weather at Chelmsford last month, but couldn’t quite find his way past an improved Capulet here, with the margin of victory half a length at the line.

This is a race that O’Brien has farmed over the years, and Capulet was giving him an 11th win in the Dee Stakes, matching the total achieved by Barry Hills. It’s worth noting that none of those 22 winners went on to success at Epsom, and the last horse to do the double was Kris Kin for Sir Michael Stoute 21 years ago.

Paul Smith, son of co-owner Derrick Smith, said: “That was very pleasing, and I thought Ryan gave him a lovely ride.

“He appreciated the step up in trip, no doubt, he’s an uncomplicated horse, he travels well so I suppose it will be the French Derby or the English Derby.”

Friday

THE Group 2 Huxley Stakes went to the progressive and much-vaunted Passenger (Sir Michael Stoute/Richard Kingscote), who travelled well throughout and pounced late to nab Israr (John and Thady Gosden/Jim Crowley). The latter tried to steal the race off the home turn as he had at Sandown in the Sir Gordon Richards Stakes, but was unable to withhold the strong late challenge of the patiently ridden winner, who is a son of Ulysses, and seems very much in the mould of his sire.

The winning rider told ITV Racing: “I had a big chat with Ryan about him yesterday. This lad was ready to come out and have a run and we wanted to use Jim for as long as possible, so the race worked out really nicely for me.

“I think I let the horse down a couple of times last season, but things are going better, and fingers crossed we keep going forwards. Sir Michael doesn’t like bigging them up but he’s a very likeable horse who is doing a lot really well now.

“The race was very smooth for him, but you could tell he was learning on the job which is why Sir Michael loves coming here. Here’s one we’ve been looking forward to.”

There was Irish success and some great winners celebrations when the Tony Martin-trained Alphonse Le Grande won the Duke Of Westminster Supporting The Chester Plate Handicap for the Bet Small Win Big Syndicate.