ALL ROADS LEAD TO LINGFIELD

Ian Heitman sees the action hotting up towards Finals Day

- Ian Heitman

Earlier this month two of racing’s most successful owner breeders passed away, David Thompson, joint owner of Cheveley Park Stud and Prince Khalid Abdullah. Both built hugely successful operations from their inception over 40 years ago with Pivotal, Russian Rhythm and Medicean to name just a few of the Cheveley Park Group 1 performers. Khalid Abdullah had champion racehorses in the UK, France and America going back to Dancing Brave in 1986 through to Frankel, Arrogate and Enable more recently.

Enable made a winning debut on the all-weather at Newcastle in November 2016 and 12 months earlier, her trainer, John Gosden sent out subsequent Group 1 winner, Persuasive to make a winning debut for Cheveley Park Stud at Kempton.

Cheveley Park have an exciting prospect for 2021 in Potapova who made an impressive winning debut at Chelmsford at the end of November while Duty Of Care looks a smart colt for Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms, both are trained by Sir Michael Stoute who, like John Gosden, enjoyed plenty of success training for both Cheveley Park and Khalid Abdullah.

A period of cold and wet weather in early January saw some National Hunt meetings replaced by Jumpers Bumpers at Lingfield and Newcastle resulting in the surfaces riding much deeper than the all-weather flat fixtures would normally be run on.

As the All-Weather Championships edge ever closer to Finals Day at Lingfield on Good Friday, April 2, four more horses booked their place there by winning a Fast Track Qualifier race.

Fillies & Mares