Bear With Him

Back to the level at which he excelled last term, Olive Shaw's Kodi Bear (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) has a lot less on his plate than of late in Saturday's G2 Fred Cowley MBE Memorial Summer Mile S. at Ascot. Impressive when winning the G3 Sovereign S. at Salisbury and G2 Celebration Mile at Goodwood in August, the 4-year-old was out of his depth when subsequently tried in a trio of group 1 races, most recently the G1 Queen Anne S. in which he was seventh at Royal Ascot June 14. Trainer Clive Cox is hopeful he can bounce back. “He did a really nice piece of work last week and it was on the back of that we decided to run him,” he said. “This year both his starts have been at Group One level and he is now just coming to himself. He has now lost the Group Two penalty which will help him. Gerald Mosse is riding him, which is great as there is so much racing on it can be hard to find jockeys. I am delighted that they are reunited.”

Godolphin come into this renewal three-handed, with the admirable Toormore (Ire) (Arakan) looking the chief hope based on his latest fourth behind Tepin (Bernstein) in the Queen Anne. He previously showed he retains all his ability when upstaging fellow Godolphin representative Dutch Connection (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) in the Apr. 22 G2 Sandown Mile, but he has to give three pounds to all rivals here. “He is going well at home and I thought his run at Ascot was top class,” trainer Richard Hannon commented. “With none of the top three in that race running here, he should be very competitive even with his penalty.” Charlie Hills is buoyed by the return to a faster surface for Dutch Connection, who was ninth when Toormore was fifth in the G1 Lockinge S. when last seen at Newbury May 14. “Dutch Connection is going really well at home and we are looking forward to getting him back on the track with conditions that he should like,” he explained. “Hopefully, he can give a good account of himself and then we can look at races like the G2 Lennox Stakes or G1 Sussex Stakes at Goodwood.”

The third of the triumvirate for the operation is the John Gosden-trained Richard Pankhurst (GB) (Raven's Pass), who flopped when seventh in the Listed Hyde S. on Kempton's Polytrack in November. That was only his second outing since winning Royal Ascot's Listed Chesham S. in 2014 in a manner that made him hard to forget. “It will be good to see Richard Pankhurst back and the ground should suit him,” Gosden said.” Last year's GII Sands Point S. runner-up Blond Me (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}) is bidding to put a substandard effort behind her when 11th in the G2 Duke of Cambridge S. at Royal Ascot June 15 and trainer Andrew Balding commented, “We were disappointed with her at Royal Ascot. We think it was the ground, as she never really travelled with her usual fluency. A sounder surface should see her to much better effect, albeit in a hot race. She has proven she can handle it, as she was Group Two-placed in America and she is at that level.”