Juvenile Watch: a Super Sprint standout and July Festival views

Apologies for a somewhat unoriginal selection in the Weatherbys Super Sprint Stakes at Newbury on Saturday, but Havana Hurricane looks to have outstanding credentials in a race where the weight carried is determined by the horse’s auction price, rather than his or her official rating. 

Off the back of his impressive win in the Windsor Castle at Royal Ascot, Havana Hurricane holds the highest rating of 100 yet his purchase value of just 9,000gns means he carries just 8st 11lb. 

Of course , the can be important in such a race but he’s an intended runner and I belief his starting price will be significantly shorter than the 2-1 that’s available as I type. As such, I make him a good ante-post proposition. 

I’ll park star performance this week and instead look at the three Group races from the Debenhams July Festival at Newmarket, starting with the July Stakes.

At 18-1, it would be fair to call the Eve Johnson Houghton-trained Zavateri a surprise winner of this six-furlong, Group Two contest. However, it certainly was no fluke. 

A son of Without Parole, he had won nicely on debut over the same trip at Salisbury, though that form had not been boosted in the interim. 

But like so many from his stable, he showed marked improvement on this second start. He travelled classily in behind a strong early pace before picking up strongly down the outside, arguably getting to the front early enough, which to my mind suggests he won with a shade more in hand than the official length margin. 

A step up in trip to seven furlongs looks on the cards next, with the Vintage Stakes at Glorious Goodwood suggested as his most likely next target by his trainer. He looks to have an excellent attitude to his racing – he raced with little cover early and no company late on – and showed enough speed to lay-up with a strong early tempo, if, as his pedigree suggests, he improves for an extra furlong he might well prove capable of adding a Group One to this success. 

Do Or Do Not ran another solid race and is undoubtedly the best maiden in this division. In contrast to the winner, he struggled with the early fractions and looks in need of an extra furlong. That said, I don’t realistically see him reversing this form over any trip. 

This was not a deep contest and Venetian Sun was sent off a well-backed 2/5 favourite. 

Those who took the cramped odds would have watched in great comfort for all bar the closing stages. 

She travelled comfortably the best and was the last to come off the bridle as jockey Clifford Lee asked her for her effort with a furlong to run. 

The response was impressive and she led by at least a couple of lengths down the centre of the track, before her stride shortened in the last half-furlong. 

Her pedigree strongly hints at stamina for at least seven furlongs, even a mile, so her jockey’s assertion that she was idling in front seems a more logical explanation for her tame finish rather than a lack of finishing power, as she hung on to win by a neck from the fast finishing Royal Fixation, who found plenty for pressure having been the first to come off the bridle. 

Trainer Karl Burke suggested the Lowther, where she would shoulder a penalty, is now an unlikely target and instead pointed to a step up to seven furlongs in the Moyglare as being her likely route forwards. 

On paper, this might appear a slightly underwhelming performance. However, if you do hold that view I encourage you to go back and watch the ease with which she travelled as well as the turn of foot she showed. I think she’s a very smart filly, although at this stage I can happily resist the 16-1 she was quoted at for the Betfred 1000 Guineas. 

This was a messy affair and certainly is not a form line I’ll be factoring in for future selections. 

Venetian Lace, previously fourth in the Chesham at Royal Ascot, broke smartly from a good draw in stall one and set the early pace. 

She was asked for maximum effort some way from home by jockey Oisin Murphy and briefly looked to have quickened up smartly before proceeding to hang violently to her left, with her jockey slow to pull his stick through to his correct hand. 

This compromised not only her chance, but also that of both the eventual runner-up, Italy and the eventual third Wild Desert, as they had started to make their challenge down the outside of the field. 

The winner, Saba Desert, was the chief beneficiary as he was able to slip stream up the stands’ rail – which had looked to be the place to be all day – to get to the front before he in turn hung left in the closing stages. 

It seems feasible that he might only be the third best horse in the field. Italy emerges with credit, he was sticking to his task well, having raced exuberantly and was noticeably disorganised when getting hampered by the late skirmish. However, I’m confident that the third placed Wild Desert, the apparent Godolphin second string, would have emerged victorious in a less messy race. 

This is the second time he’s shaped as the moral victor over this course and distance, having endured a troubled passage on his penultimate start when runner-up to a stablemate. Compensation surely awaits, and he’s the only addition from this field to my Racing TV tracker. 

Charlie Appleby, above, and William Buick, below, reflect on the debut win of Distant Storm  at Newmarket last Thursday. The colt edged out Constitution River in the usually-informative Weatherbys British EBF Maiden Stakes, won 12 months ago by Field Of Gold. Distant Storm (5-6 favourite) cost €1.9million at the Arqana breeze-up and the Night Of Thunder colt boasts an exceptional pedigree as the penultimate foal of the mare Date With Destiny, who in turn was the sole progeny of multiple Group One winner George Washington.