Charlie Hills steps Juliet Foxtrot up in class at Naas
By Racing TV
Last Updated: Tue 5 Dec 2023
Runaway Goodwood scorer Juliet Foxtrot travels to Ireland to test the water at Group Three level in the CL & MF Weld Park Stakes at Naas on Sunday.
Having finished a promising fifth on her racecourse debut at Newmarket last month, the Khalid Abdullah-owned filly was a warm order to open her account on the Sussex Downs and it was hard not to have been impressed as she triumphed by seven lengths.
Trainer Charlie Hills said: "We will keep an eye on the ground, but it's soft ground there at the moment and she won on soft ground at Goodwood. It is nice to step her up to Group Three company now."
He went on: "She travelled well into her last race and picked up nicely. We are upping her in class, but hopefully she should be up to it. In that ground, she probably went through it better than the others.
"She has done nothing wrong at home. She behaved well last time as first time she was a bit funny in the stalls, but we have done a bit of work on that.
"The form is good as the horse that beat her first time has won again."
Juliet Foxtrot is joined on the trip across the Irish Sea by the Karl Burke-trained Ellthea.
The daughter of Kodiac bolted up in a nursery at Doncaster last week and heads to Naas following the abandonment of Saturday's meeting at Ayr, where she was due to contest the Firth of Clyde Stakes.
"We diverted her at the last minute after Ayr was abandoned," said Burke.
"It looks a better race than the Ayr race would have been, but with a filly like her it's important to try and get some black type, so we'll give it a go.
"She won very well the other day and deserves to take her chance at this level now."
Aidan O'Brien is represented by Athena, Ballet Shoes and Sizzling, with jockey Ryan Moore siding with the latter.
Ball Girl (Ger Lyons), Fille Du Septembre (Dermot Weld), Mary Tudor (Willie McCreery) and New To Town (Jim Bolger) complete the line-up.
Group Three honours are also up for grabs in the two-mile Loughbrown Stakes.
The Willie Mullins-trained Renneti is the clear top-rated runner in a four-strong field, while fellow leading National Hunt trainer Henry de Bromhead sends Stars Over The Sea into battle.
O'Brien's Wild Irish Rose and James Fanshawe's Return Ace are the other contenders.
Fifteen unraced juveniles contest the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden that opens the eight-race card.
O'Brien and Moore team up with the impeccably-bred James Cook, who is a son of Galileo out of the top-class racemare Red Evie. He is also a full-brother to Breeders' Cup Turf and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe heroine Found.
The Ballydoyle handler also saddles Cypress Creek, a full-brother to Irish Derby and St Leger hero Capri, and Flag Of Honour.
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