Solid Wood

One of the season’s premier juveniles, Fiona and Ian Jennings’ Ivawood (Ire) (Zebedee {GB}) robs the limelight from the featured G1 Dewhurst S. on today’s Future Champions Day card at Newmarket as he puts his unbeaten record on the line in the G1 Middle Park S. Flawless so far, the bay followed a five-furlong maiden score at Sandown June 13 with a demolition job at a rain-soaked July Course here in the G2 July S. over this trip July 10 before easily defying a penalty in Goodwood’s G2 Richmond S. again at this distance at the end of July. “This has been Ivawood’s main aim since he won at Goodwood and everything has gone smoothly since,” trainer Richard Hannon commented. “He is a bull of a horse and very reminiscent of [MG1SW] Toronado (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}), so we hope his strength will enable him to go through the ground. It was soft enough when he won the July Stakes at Newmarket, so we are going back up there with optimism.” Hannon also saddles the June 28 G2 Railway S. winner and July 20 G2 Prix Robert Papin scorer Kool Kompany (Ire) (Jeremy), who was second in the G1 Phoenix S. at The Curragh Aug. 10 before flopping when sixth in the DBS Premier Yearling S. 11 days later at York. “He has been a star this season and ran well from a bad draw in the big sales race at Doncaster last time, having earlier being beaten only half a length by Dick Whittington (Ire) (Rip Van Winkle {Ire}) in the Phoenix S. in Ireland,” Hannon added. “It was soft ground there, so hopefully he’ll cope with the conditions, but we are just glad that Neil Werrett, who bought him privately at Doncaster, has left him with us. He’s a real sprinter.” Third behind Ivawood in the July, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Muhaarar (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) went on to take the G2 Gimcrack S. at York Aug. 23 and jockey Paul Hanagan believes he has a chance of turning the tables on the favorite. “He’s come on with every run and showed a really good attitude at York–he really put his head down for me that day,” he said. “He won his maiden on very soft ground at Doncaster and is just a very straightforward horse that tries.” Godolphin put forward the Sept. 22 Leicester conditions scorer Charming Thought (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) and although he has something to find on that form, trainer Charlie Appleby is hopeful he can bridge the gap. “Charming Thought is in great nick. We appreciate that he is running in a Group 1 and respect the opposition, but I am confident that he is ready to take a step up in class,” he explained. “It’s a bit of a fact-finding mission in terms of whether he will cope with the rise in class and the softer ground, but I couldn’t be happier with him. He looks to have strengthened up a bit since his win at Leicester and we will dip our toe into a race like this to see where we are with him.”