HENRY Candy believes Scottish racing enthusiasts are set to see a special talent getting stronger by the race should Qatar Racing push ahead with their plans to retain the William Hill Firth of Clyde Stakes with La Rioja.
The Candy-trained two-year-old was an impressive four-and-a-half length winner of the CGA Dick Poole Stakes at Salisbury on Thursday and is entered for Saturday’s chief support to the Ayr Gold Cup.
Qatar Racing won Group 3 Firth Of Clyde Stakes, the country’s only group race, last year with the Ann Duffield-trained Dark Reckoning and Candy believes it will be the perfect platform for the improving La Rioja to take the next step in her career.
“She was something else [at Salisbury],” said Candy. “Andrea Atzeni [jockey] said she’s only going to get quicker the more racing she does and he struggled to hold on to her for the first furlong. Something like the Firth of Clyde would look tailor-made for her. She is likely to get the ground she likes there.
“I suppose if she won that on the bridle, it would be tempting to supplement her for the Cheveley Park Stakes.
“As she matures, she will cope with faster ground, but, at this stage of her career, she needs a bit of cut.She is an out-and-out sprinter.”
Qatar Racing are one of several leading training organisations heading north with firm intentions of claiming their share of the £660,000 prize fund on offer over the course of the three-day William Hill Ayr Gold Cup festival.
Godolphin, Hamdan Al Maktoum and Al Shaqab Racing have won more than £8 million in prize-money between them this season and have their raiders prepared for the richest event on the Scottish flat calendar, which runs from Thursday to Saturday.
The £50,000 Shadwell Stud EBF Stallions Harry Rosebery Stakes is the target for Al Shaqab’s Easton Angel, trained by Michael Dods, while the £180,000 William Hill Ayr Gold Cup sees Hamdan Al Maktoum entering both Mubtaghaa, trained by Willie Haggas, and Tanzeel, from the Charlie Hills yard.
Scotland has not had a winner in the race since Roman Warrior 40 years ago, but Lanarkshire trainer Jim Goldie will have a third crack at success with Jack Dexter, who finished eighth last year and third in 2013.
Leading Yorkshire-based trainers Richard Fahey, David O’Meara and Mark Johnston will all be strongly represented at the meeting with Fahey the man in charge of Don’t Touch, the current Gold Cup favourite.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here