Moor To Come

Hugo Palmer has already proven that if he has the right material he can deliver in the right races, and he sends another notable stable representative into battle at Newmarket on Friday in Chris Humber’s Hawksmoor (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}) in the G2 Shadwell Rockfel S. Only sixth in the G3 Sweet Solera S. staged on a fast surface over this trip on the July Course here Aug. 8, the bay benefitted from rain-softened ground to annex Goodwood’s G3 Prestige S. also at this distance three weeks later. “She is a good filly and is improving all the time,” her conditioner said. “You can mark her performance at Goodwood up a lot, as she was in season that day. If she had got beat that would have been the excuse, but she didn’t as Harry Bentley gave her a great ride. She didn’t get the run of the race; one of the outsiders kept falling back into her lap and she only got out quite late in the piece, but she showed a wonderful turn of foot and I was delighted with that win.” Palmer said he expects Hawkmoor to get more distance in time. “The Rockfel is the right race for her at the moment–I am certain she will get a mile and we nearly ran her over it in the May Hill S., only for the rain to not come quite soon enough, but all three of her starts up until now have been over seven furlongs so she’s clearly well suited to that trip,” he said. “It’s not a case of her having to have soft ground, it’s just that she doesn’t want it any faster than good.”

Charlie Hills is another young trainer finding his feet at the top table and he saddles the exciting Doubly Motivated (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}), who scored by eight lengths in an extended seven-furlong maiden on turf at Lingfield Sept. 12. Jim and Susan Hill’s chestnut may not have beaten much on that occasion, but the manner of her performance fully justifies this bid. “She did it extremely well last time; it was a very pleasing performance,” her trainer said. “She’s a filly that has always pleased me at home and it’s nice when they replicate it on the track.” One of the veteran brigade who will always hold significant sway is Sir Michael Stoute, and it is significant that he pitches Ballymacoll Stud’s Thetis (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) in on the back of a win over this trip at Carlisle Sept. 9, while Godolphin’s royal blue is carried by the Aug. 28 July Course maiden scorer Promising Run (Hard Spun).