Tropbeau Boost for the Raffle Prize Team | Race News


The Raffle Prize connections were interested observers on two fronts, their Cheveley Park Stakes form having been boosted in France on Monday.

The filly trained by Mark Johnston was in front of Tropbeau when he was second behind Millisle in Newmarket in September and the runner of André Fabre announced his classic claims with a victory at the Prix de la Grotte when returning from the races at Paris Longchamp.

While Tropbeau is now the favorite of the French 1000 Guineas, the prize for the raffle should go to Newmarket for the Qine Guineas 1000, but this might not have been the case if the race had taken place when It was originally scheduled for March 3. can.

Charlie Johnston, his father's assistant, said: "I was certainly watching with a bit of interest, actually both because we have Tropbeau's half-brother, a cute Iffraaj foal for John Dance and the Raffle Prize connection, but He had the right to win and was positive for the shape of Cheveley Park.

"It was difficult to plan the way forward, but everyone is in the same boat in this regard. To be realistic if the Guineas had been executed on time, it probably would not have been there, it There was a slight setback in January that we just entered the hind foot in the first half of spring.

"So in some ways, later Guineas are better for us and for her, it gives us more time."

In addition to her successful career at Cheveley Park, the raffle prize was second behind Earthlight at the Morny Prize, having won the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket.

Just like the brilliant stable attraction before its classic year, endurance is the big issue of the prize draw.

Johnston said: "She has certainly grown a lot over the winter and is becoming a bigger filly compared to last year. It looks a lot more like a miler and it gives us a little bit more of travel confidence, which is always the question mark this year.

"They have a similar profile in that they are very fast fillers who have shown a first class form of over six (furlongs) as a two year old with a question about endurance in their year three years old. So she's in the same boat in this regard.

"It's hard to plan exactly, in a normal year, you would definitely go to Guinea, no matter where there is no other place in the first semester. What the program book will look like now, nobody don't really know, but always for a filly like that, second in two groups one by two and having won two groups two, the Guineas are the end goal and that's where it will go, everything is fine . "

Racing won't resume in Britain until June 1 at least, but industry leaders have announced that they are "determined to plan" by that date, in more detail expected in the coming days.

Johnston said: "I hope we get more information soon, but we have been saying it for two months and I really don't have it. I really see no excuse for not having solid date and solid program for the foreseeable future.

"I don't think there is now an excuse for not having everything ready and really starting to run strong on June 1, like France did: returning 0-85 to Newcastle will not be enough now." we wasted a lot of time

"As Richard (Hughes) said, there will be less risk at Lingfield Park than at Hyde Park and less risk at a racetrack than a construction site and probably less risk than to go to Sainsbury & # 39; s, but for some reason we can't seem to get this message across.

"It is frustrating for the bureaucracy to hinder progress, but I'm sure there are a lot of industries in the same boat, so we have to sit back and really suffer."

Johnston also had news of the promising colt Thunderous, who was undefeated on three juvenile outings, including the Denford Stakes in Newbury in August.

He said: "He had a setback in the spring, a minor stress fracture from a cannon bone that needed a screw in Newmarket. It sounds dramatic and obviously not ideal, but at the same time , it's a fairly common injury and treatment today, and it's been going around for a little over two weeks, so he's back.

"With hindsight, there has been nothing missing in any way for what it would have been intended for, but okay, it will probably be ready in early July, he would have thought. It would be a realistic goal for the moment . "

"He has done absolutely nothing wrong and we hope that with his physique, pedigree and racing style, he will improve. He is very relaxed and really put the race into Newbury in bed in the last 100 meters, then he has run a mile and probably a mile and fourth, you hope to make even more improvements. "



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