September was a spectacular month for Highclere. Seven winners, two of them in Listed company, including a black-type success in Rome, and a run of placed efforts and extremely narrow defeats that could easily have added a few more to the total.
Likeness started the month in style, winning at Epsom over a mile and half a furlong. She clearly enjoys the notoriously tricky track, and she returned there at the end of the month to finish a creditable third. She then came agonisingly close at Southwell, beaten only a short head in a photo-finish. She has been a model of consistency after finally hitting her stride this year.
Likeness winning at Epsom
Paul and Trish Sankey, George Bass, Likeness, and Ashgar
Piazza has also been unlucky in how the line fell in a photo finish this month. She finished second twice with the latter of those in another close photo at Southwell (beaten by a nose - more like a whisker!). Hopefully she can get another win on the board before she heads to the sales at the end of the month.
Rhapsody ran with great credit to finish fourth in the Listed John Musker Stakes at Yarmouth. She was drawn cosily in stall 3, but this ended up working against her, as they grouped up in front of her on the rail and she was denied a clear run. She was again denied a solid chance when she ran in the Prix Dahlia (Listed) at Saint-Cloud where the field of ten fillies crawled around at a very slow pace which did not suit her way of going at all.
Awaken ran in her third Group 3 since July, and competed in France for the second time. She has yet to learn how to relax so that she can race properly, but she has raced consistently this season with her form working out to be very strong from the Prix de Lieurey (Group 3) in which she was fourth.
On Sunday 20th of September, Topaz gave Highclere a Listed winner abroad in the Premio Ubaldo Pandolfi over six furlongs at Capannelle, Rome. Jack Channon’s filly was the only overseas runner on the card, on a day when the course was celebrating its centenary in front of around 5,000 people. Finley Marsh, who rode Topaz on her debut, was reunited with the filly in Italy. When asked for more effort, she quickened through horses and won decisively from Charm Bear, with Atena Acquaviva third. This was a well-deserved step up to black type for the Debussy Syndicate’s daughter of Persian Force. She won her novice at Salisbury in July, ran in the Albany at Royal Ascot, and was third in the Tattersalls Somerville Auction Stakes at Newmarket in August.
Topaz then went on to sign off her two year old season with a third in the Oh So Sharp Stakes (Gr 3) at Newmarket this weekend. This was her first step up to seven furlongs, and she looked like she had plenty more to come as they hit the line. Had she been drawn nearer the pace, she may well have won. Next for Topaz comes a well-earned holiday, and her shareowners have plenty to dream about over the winter.
Resemblance, another one of our two year old fillies returned at Ffos Las after a break since June due to the quick ground over the summer. This was her handicap debut, in a six-furlong nursery on soft ground that was heavy in places. None of that troubled her. The daughter of Bayside Boy travelled sweetly in touch under Oisin Murphy and moved into second over a furlong out. She led inside the final stages and went on to beat Chief Minister by a length and three-quarters. It was a first career success, and a winner to celebrate for the Verdi Syndicate and co-owners Ballylinch Stud.
Two days later came arguably the performance of the month. Respond was sent off the 6/4 favourite for the Listed Foundation Stakes over a mile and a quarter at Goodwood, and he won by four and three-quarter lengths. On his previous start, the four-year-old had finished fourth in the August Stakes at Windsor over nearly a mile and a half. Back in trip on good ground, he was a different proposition. He stretched right away under Oisin Murphy to beat Boiling Point, the highest-rated horse in the race. The clock confirmed what our eyes told us, as he shattered the course record and won in a time more than a second inside standard.
A wide margin for Respond in the Foundation Stakes (Listed)
Respond went into the race rated 105, and that figure should be heading north. For Andrew Balding it was a second Highclere winner of the month, and an important result for the Trainers’ Championship, in which Balding remains in touch with Aidan O’Brien. For the Teal Syndicate it brought a first prize of nearly £40,000 and a horse who now heads to the St Simon (Group 3) at Newbury on the 24th October.
Centigrade rounded off the month very nicely indeed at Haydock on 26th of September, just ten days earlier he had finished eighth in the Listed Fortune Stakes at Sandown. Ralph Beckett brought him back quickly for a Class 2 handicap over a mile on heavy ground, and he handled the conditions better than anything else. Centigrade beat Checkandchallenge by a length and three-quarters, with the favourite Eternal Force a neck further back in third. It was a welcome return to winning ways for the Buzzard Syndicate, along with a first prize of more than £23,000. Centigrade now heads the Robin Hood Stakes (Listed) at Nottingham on the 28th October.
Centigrade winning at Haydock
It was a September of black type, big pots and plenty of near misses. With several horses clearly on the up, the autumn is shaping up nicely.