CHAMPION jockey Oisin Murphy is full of hope he can deny breeding close to his heart by landing Saturday’s feature Group 1 William Hill Futurity on Royal Playwright.
Only at Ascot on Saturday Murphy was reflecting on a season which he had hoped would have brought him more domestic Group 1 winners than sprinters Khaadem and Asfoora.
Four-time champ Oisin Murphy is desperate for one last slice of Group 1 glory[/caption]
In particular, he will have been frustrated to have missed out on Kalpana and Tamfana when they both scored at the top level.
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Royal Playwright, trained by Andrew Balding, would have a cracking each way chance at Doncaster, having followed up a Salisbury novice success with a progressive third to Field of Gold at Sandown and second to re-opposing and likely favourite Wimbledon Hawkeye in the Group 2 Royal Lodge at Newmarket.
The latter is by the sire Kameko, who Murphy rode to success in this race in 2019, although that year it was transferred to the artificial at Newcastle.
Murphy would go on to ride Kameko to victory in the 2020 2000 Guineas in record time.
“I’ll be riding Royal Playwright at Doncaster on Saturday,” Murphy told me.
“I hope the ground doesn’t get too deep, but he’s improved with every race and he’s trained really well since his last start in the Royal Lodge.
“We have a lot of respect for Wimbledon Hawkeye, the Kameko colt, but we are looking forward to running.”
Meanwhile, Kinross will be back as an eight-year-old.
That’s the message from Ralph Beckett after the super tough son of Kingman could manage only seventh behind Kind of Blue in Saturday’s Qipco British Champions Sprint at Ascot.
Kinross was back to his best this season when beating Lead Artist at Doncaster and was a fine second to Ramatuelle in the Prix de la Foret at Longchamp over Arc weekend.
Many thought that Ascot might be the end for Marc Chan’s 11-time winner, but Becket said: “He’ll be back next year but he won’t run again in 2024. We will probably start later next year in mid summer and go from there.”
Naturally many of Beckett’s stars are done for this season but that does not include Starlust, who was beaten just a length in the Nunthorpe by Bradsell and was very unlucky in the run when ninth in the Abbaye.
Beckett added: “The plan at this stage is for Starlust to head for the Breeders’ Cup (Turf Sprint) and we are happy with him.”
That would mean taking on Bradsell once again in a race set to include Big Evs.
I’ll be off to Breeders’ Cup this Sunday to bring you daily news on At The Races’ social media feeds. Don’t miss any of the action. Yeeehaaa!
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