Lord Shanakill bridges distance gap at Goodwood
There may only be 220 yards to a furlong but the difference in what is needed between a six-furlong sprinter and a miler can be cavernous.
For those not possessed of the speed for one or the necessary stamina for the other the options are not plentiful. A year ago Lord Shanakill (pictured left) did win the Group One Prix Jean Prat over the round mile at Chantilly but eight furlongs has often drawn too heavily on his reserves. Having, after the 12-month suspension of original trainer Karl Burke, run for Alan Jarvis, then been shipped out to America to Richard Mandella and back to Britain in three successive runs - arrived at Henry Cecil’s yard, who has tried both options with the horse.
Lord Shanakill who did not really last home over the mile of the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury, was run off his feet in the Golden Jubilee stakes at Royal Ascot and in between found soft ground not to his liking over seven furlongs at Haydock Park.
But, following a confidence-boosting win at Chester, the fast surface and seven furlongs of the Group Two Betfair Cup at Goodwood was ideal for the colt as he collared Dalghar in the final furlong and then held off the fast-finishing Cat Junior to win by two lengths.
Tom Queally had Lord Shanakill in mid-division and set off in pursuit of Dalghar when Gerald Mosse committed with a furlong-and-a-half to run and took the lead in the last hundred yards while always holding the runner-up. "He’s a classy horse and people are quick to forget he’s a Group One winner and his class showed today when it mattered,” Queally said.
"We’ve tried him at a mile, we’ve tried him in the sprints but he’s a seven-furlong horse. It’s a tricky sort of distance because you’re in between and the races aren’t there a lot of the time. But the last day at Chester did his confidence the world of good. He just hits a bit of a flat spot and takes a couple of strides to get up through the gears. But, once he got there he battled very hard to win.
“I was forced to cut inside, which you wouldn’t want to do at Goodwood. He took a couple of strides to go up through the gears, but when he did he had the speed to go through the gaps. We’ve tried him over six furlongs and a mile, but this race and this distance played to his strengths today.
“It’s up to Henry where he goes next and I just do the steering, but he is definitely entitled to have another crack at the top level. The owners have been very patient with him and they have believed in the horse, like me. We are going to enjoy today and let Henry ponder the next step.”
Group winners may still be a distant hope for 5lb claimer Dale Swift but it was a big day for the young jockey when Indian Days won the Betfair App For iPhone Handicap.
Australia Day set a strong pace from the start and had the field on the stretch on the descent into the home straight to the point where very few of the 15 runners ever got into the race.
He was still in front with two furlongs to run but was then collared by Indian Days and Changing The Guard. Paul Hanagan is leading this season’s jockeys’ table and does not lose out often in a tight finish but Swift gave Indian Days a cool ride and the horse responded with his first victory in two years, which was also at Goodwood.
Swift, who rode Indian Days when he was a promising fifth in the John Smith’s Cup at York three weeks ago, was thrilled with the biggest win of his fledgling career. “They’ve gone plenty fast enough up front and that’s helped me just slot in,” he said. “And it’s worked out nicely for him. He’s pretty much done everything for me – he’s got into a nice rhythm, he’s kept straight and he’s run all the way to the line and kept pulling out for me.”
Later on the card a power-packed finish from Kieren Fallon brought Start Right home for Luca Cumani in the Tatler Summer Season Handicap, but at the cost of a one-day ban, and Highclere Thoroughbred Racing, fresh from the success of Harbinger in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Saturday, won the concluding ROA Summer Handicap with Martyr.
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