Three things we learnt at Newmarket on Thursday

The highlight of the day came in the feature Group Three Tattersalls Stakes when Distant Storm romped to a four and three-quarter length win over Commander’s Intent.

The son of Night Of Thunder, who won a hot maiden on debut at the July Course, was solid in the market, despite pulling hard when finishing third in the Acomb on his second start last time out, and could not have been much more impressive in the way he stretched clear on the uphill run to the line.

RaceiQ data highlighted he was the only horse in the race to break the 40mph barrier, whilst he also recorded the quickest time index on the card and had the longest average and maximum stride length in the race

He ought to be decent – he cost €1.9m at Arqana in the spring, and words cannot do justice just how exceptional his sire Night Of Thunder is becoming – this was his 38th Group winner already. On the damside, he is out of Date With Destiny – the only foal sired by the great George Washington.

Whether or not this fabulously bred colt can follow in the hoofprints of ‘Gorgeous George’ and win here over a mile in May remains to be seen, but Charlie Appleby was very complimentary about him after the race and he seemed keen on giving the Dewhurst Stakes a crack here in two weeks’ time – for which he is currently a best-priced 5-1 with Unibet behind Zavateri and Gstaad. The same firm go 14-1 for the 2000 Guineas, along with Skybet and Paddy Power.

They say you should never fear one horse, and connections of Miss Alpilles were certainly not scared of six horses in the Listed Jockey Club Rose Bowl Stakes on Thursday.

The daughter of Sea The Stars was sent off at 20-1 for the two-mile contest and, rated just 85, she had 11lb to find with the next lowest-rated runner on official ratings and 28lb with the top-rated Palladium, who sadly pulled up six furlongs from home.

Ed Walker admitted he was totally shocked by the victory of his four-year-old and that the plan was to hopefully pick up some black-type for her before heading to the paddocks. Connections may now need to give that a rethink, as she surely has Group race potential having won by three and a half lengths over Chester Cup winner and Triumph Hurdle-third East India Dock. This was also her first run at the trip.

Her trainer also mentioned how surprised he was that she appeared to love the good ground at HQ.

“I honestly loved this filly as a two-year-old and as a three-year-old. I thought she was going to be our Oaks filly, but she’s been nothing but horrifically disappointing.” he said.

“She finally won on soft ground at Haydock and we always thought she wanted soft ground after that, until Kieran rode her on soft ground at Ffos Las and said she hated it!”

The opening one-mile maiden on the card has been won by some smart types over  the past decade, with the likes of Eminent, Ghaiyyath, Royal Champion and Bellum Justum all returning victorious, and we could well have another nice prospect to add to that list courtesy of Maltese Cross.

The Sea The Stars colt looked to be beaten by the well-backed and expensively bought Del Maro running out of the dip, but Tom Marquand’s mount battled back gamely to score by a head on his second start.

Second on debut over the same trip on soft ground at Ascot just under three weeks ago, he had clearly stepped forward like most from the stable for that outing and his trainer reported afterwards that he would reappear in a Classic Trial in the spring, saying he would start over “a mile and a quarter next year in a nice race” and that he “will dream over the winter.”

He cost a fair bit at 350,000gns and, given he is also out of a Camelot mare who won over 1m6f, he ought to stay significantly further at three.