Talking Horses: Saffie Osborne lifts Chester Cup in rookie season

Saffie Osborne, who is in her first season as a fully-fledged professional having ridden out her claim in November, landed the most valuable success of her career at Chester on Friday as Metier stayed on strongly from the top of the straight to beat Zoffee by a neck in the Tote Chester Cup.

Harry Fry’s gelding had a disappointing time over hurdles over the winter, when he was pulled up on both his starts, but bounced back to the form that had seen horse and rider take last season’s November Handicap at Doncaster off an 8lb lower mark. The first prize of £76,000 was just over twice as much as Metier won on Town Moor six months ago.

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“It didn’t really go right through the race, I was too far back and he was all guts,” Osborne said.

“I was saying what a tough horse he is, but he’s also extremely talented and still fairly unexposed at this trip on the Flat. You’d like to think there’s more left in the tank.

“He’s just got a lot of ability and for a big horse he’s very well balanced to go round a track like this. I was having to make up ground on a part of a track that I didn’t really want to have to, but he was making it feel very easy and I didn’t want to check his momentum.”

Earlier on the card the odds-on favourite, Point Lonsdale, had to work hard to gain a first Group Two success since August 2021 in the Huxley Stakes, holding the late challenge of Mujtaba by a neck having been strongly ridden for much of the way by Ryan Moore.

Aidan O’Brien’s colt was a leading juvenile two seasons ago but made only one start at three, when he finished well down the field in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket after being sent off at 11-2.

“It wasn’t very pretty, was it?,” Moore conceded afterwards. “He’s a real galloper and he probably hasn’t been round a tight track like this before. He’s only really been to the Curragh, Leopardstown and Ascot and he was just a bit unsure what to do with himself.

“Today’s race was well up to standard and the track didn’t suit him, but he has a great attitude to be fair to him and plenty of ability. It was a very good performance.”

Silvestre de Sousa, who was Britain’s champion jockey on the Flat three times between 2015 and 2018, has been suspended for 10 months by the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s stewards after pleading guilty to a betting charge.

De Sousa was suspended along with fellow rider Vagner Borges, who received a 12-month suspension for having “an interest” in his mount Young Brilliant in a race at Happy Valley on 26 April. De Sousa admitted that he had “facilitated” the bet.

A statement from HKJC said that there was no evidence that Borges and De Sousa “had ridden their horses … with any intention other than to obtain the best possible placing for their mounts.” The statement also emphasised, however, that “it is fundamental to the integrity of racing that jockeys are not permitted to bet or to have an interest in a bet.”

Desert Crown, unraced since winning the Derby at Epsom last June, is on course to make his four-year-old debut in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown Park on 25 May.

“He runs in the Brigadier for sure,” Bruce Raymond, racing manager to Desert Crown’s owner, Saeed Suhail, said on Friday. “He is in good shape, the horse looks good and all has gone to plan, from what I have been told.”

Voyage appeals as safe bet in Victoria Cup

The high numbers generally have the upper hand over seven furlongs at Ascot and John Quinn’s veteran Safe Voyage (2.40), is an interesting contender from stall 22 in Saturday’s Victoria Cup.

Safe Voyage was a Group Two winner over this seven-furlong trip at York’s Ebor meeting three summers ago and showed that he is still capable of useful form when finishing a close third in a well-run Thirsk Hunt Cup last time.

The 10-year-old can run off the same mark of 97 on Saturday, has plenty of form with cut in the ground and looks like the pick of the prices in the day’s big handicap at around 12-1.

Ascot 1.30 Harry Fry has saddled just seven runners on the Flat since the start of 2022, four of which were winners with two more finishing second. High Fibre, a recruit from Ralph Beckett, ran a huge race to finish second at Newmarket after a 164-day break on his only start last season and remains a very interesting runner at around 5-1 despite having an even longer absence to overcome.

Lingfield 1.50 The drop back to seven furlongs helped Winforglory to produce a career-best run on the ratings at Chelmsford City last time out and William Buick is an eye-catching booking for Richard Hughes’s gelding.

Ascot 2.05 Timeless Melody pulled a long way clear of a next-time winner in a novice event at Leicester last time and her opening mark looks generous as a result.

Lingfield 2.25 Sacred and Sandrine are both very capable performers at this specialist trip, but Andrew Balding’s filly has winning form on this surface and her Group Two win at Glorious Goodwood last summer is – marginally - the best on offer.

Lingfield 3.00 Unlike Be Happy, her main market rival, Eternal Hope is not entered for the Oaks but there is little depth in this field and Charlie Appleby’s filly may need only normal progress to come out on top.

Haydock 3.15 Several of the market leaders like to force the pace so this could be set up for a more patiently-ridden runner like Gary Moore’s Teddy Blue, who looked better than ever in victory at Plumpton last month and has the added benefit of excellent conditional Caoilin Quinn taking off 5lb.

Ascot 1.30 High Fibre 2.05 Timeless Melody 2.40 Safe Voyage (nb) 3.10 Golden Arrow 3.45 Westerton 4.20 Peace Of Mine 4.55 Cooperation

Haydock 1.35 Grozni 2.10 Feel The Need 2.45 Run To Freedom 3.15 Teddy Blue (nap) 3.50 Angel Bleu 4.25 Baileysgutfeeling 5.00 Parade Away 5.35 Artisan Dancer

Hexham 1.40 All The Glory 2.15 Storm Lorenzo 2.50 Chance The Robin 3.25 Matts Commission 4.00 Serious Ego 4.30 Sao 5.05 Stadium Talk

Lingfield 1.50 Winforglory 2.25 Sandrine 3.00 Eternal Hope 3.35 Inquiring Minds 4.10 Inaam 4.40 Perfect Symphony 5.15 God Of Thunder 5.45 Naasma

Nottingham 1.55 Red Derek 2.30 Oneforsue 3.05 Fortunate Star 3.40 Mulzim 4.15 On The River 4.45 Edmund Ironside 5.20 Ship To Shore

Warwick 4.50 Furkash 5.25 Glorious Fun 5.55 Designer Destiny 6.25 Forget The Way 6.55 Young Buster 7.25 Wiseguy 7.55 Imperial B G 8.25 Rock House

Leicester 5.40 Ponga 6.10 Celestial Force 6.40 Autumn Flight 7.10 Lowton 7.40 Parisiac 8.10 Albeseeingyer 8.40 Buraback

Lingfield 3.35 Charlie Appleby’s Military Order could hardly have a better pedigree or connections, as he is a full brother to the trainer’s 2021 Derby winner, Adayar. His form to date does not make him an 11-10 shot here, however, or an 8-1 chance for next month’s Classic. Inquiring Minds, an emphatic winner of his only start to date on Tapeta at Newcastle 11 days ago, could prove to be the pick of several very promising rivals.