Key events
For practical purposes, that race was over as soon as Ali Shuffle set her first hoof on the Chester turf just in front of her rivals. Over the minimum trip, they were never likely to reel her in and while the winning margin was only a length, Karl Burke, her trainer, suggested afterwards that she was pretty much coasting around from the off.
She will now head to Royal Ascot, with a stop-off at Beverley for the Hilary Needler Trophy also under consideration.
1.30 Chester result: Ali Shuffle off to a flyer
1. ALI SHUFFLE 5-6 FAV, 2. Exclamation 14-1, 3. Italica 40-1.
Off and running in the Lily Agnes ….
Ali Shuffle got a flyer from one, Miss Piggle on her outside with Exclamation, Ali Shuffle has a useful lead turning in … she’s gone to the rail, here’s come the big outsider Italica … but Ali Shuffle and Sam James have more than enough to hold on.
The runners are in the paddock for the opening Lily Agnes Stakes, which is named after the dam of the unbeaten Triple Crown winner, Ormonde. And as the sun beats down on the Roodee, the money keeps coming for the odds-on favourite, Ali Shuffle, now a general 5-6.
CHESTER 2.05, HANDICAP, 5F 15YD
Still at the minimum trip for the second race at Chester and, to no-one’s great surprise, the horses originally drawn 11 and 12 in a dozen-strong field have found a reason to be somewhere else. Clive Cox ‘s Redorange, one of the most lightly-raced runners in the field, has emerged as a warm favourite from an interesting line-up of three-year-olds, and he has an excellent draw in stall two so cannot be dismissed lightly, but I’ll be taking a chance on Kinetic Force from eight. It’s a fair bit wider in the stalls than I’d usually prefer but Silvestre De Sousa is an excellent booking to find the best path to the line and there is not a huge amount of blistering early pace on his inside. If he could settle one or even two off the rail, the form of his win at Bath last month gives him a very live chance.
SELECTION: KINETIC FORCE.
NEWTON ABBOT 1.45, KAUTO THE KING HANDICAP CHASE, 2M 4F 216YD
A quick 250-mile diversion down to Devon for the second race on the ITV schedule, a handicap chase that may not take much winning now that Heltenham and Excello, from the Dan Skelton and Nicky Henderson yards respectively, are both non-runners. In their absence, Emma Lavelle’s Light N Strike looks like the one to back: he has useful form on a sound surface, including a close second at Chepstow 16 days ago when he posted a fair time in the circumstances.
SELECTION: LIGHT N STRIKE
CHESTER 1.30, LILY AGNES CONDITIONS STAKES, 5F 15YD
The traditional fast-and-furious opening to Chester’s May meeting, although the initial entry of a dozen runners has been whittled down to eight by non-runners, including three that were initially drawn eight or higher. The hugely significant stall one, meanwhile, went to Karl Burke’s unbeaten Ali Shuffle, who would probably have started favourite in any case as a result of her perfect two-from-two record, but is now odds-on to make the most of her luck in the draw. She is also top on Timeform ratings and has the best timefigure in the race too, so unless she blows the start, she is likely to be very difficult to beat. Miss Piggle, from Hugo Palmer’s local yard, was the 7-2 second favourite this morning but she is out to 5-1 now as the money comes for Ali Shuffle and there will be some seriously burned fingers among the backers if she fails to oblige.
SELECTION: ALI SHUFFLE.
Thady Gosden has been speaking to the Nick Luck Daily Podcast about the decision to sack Kieran Shoemark as the stable’s No.1 jockey and demote him to the pool of riders from which the stable will pick “the best available” in future.
“Naturally since Saturday, myself and John have gone through things together and decided the best policy going forward is to adopt a best available rider strategy,” Gosden said.
“Of course, it is still very early in the season and there is plenty of time still to go, but we believe that is the best way for the stable to go, to have the best available rider, alongside of course a different number of retained riders pre-existing in the yard.”
Preamble … and Shoemark sacked by Gosdens
Good morning from the Roodee, where one of Britain’s most popular and historic Flat tracks will stage two significant Classic trials later today – the Chester Vase and Chester Oaks – but the early talk is all about the news that Kieran Shoemark has been sacked from his role as No 1 jockey to John & Thady Gosden’s powerful Newmarket stable, just four days after steering Field Of Gold, the favourite, into a fast-finishing second place in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket.
John Gosden, who was hoping to complete the full set of English Classics on Saturday by winning the 2,000 Guineas for the first time, seemed fairly philosophical in the immediate aftermath.
“We were sitting some way back and quite frankly, the winner has kicked and gone and we have run out of racetrack,” he said. “In another probably 25 yards the race would have been ours. You know when this track gets firm like this, it rides slick and with a bit of cross tailwind, they can just get away from you. It just got away from us today I am afraid, as we came into the Dip. He was clawing the ground back but it was too late.”
On further reflection, though, the trainer seems to have decided that enough blame attaches to Shoemark to merit a change of stable jockey (although, as the trainer has often pointed out too, several owners in the yard already have retained riders of their own).
The ultimate sanction for Shoemark does feel a little harsh in the circumstances. William Buick, on the winner, Ruling Court, got first run on Field Of Gold, but his draw, one stall outside the runner-up, had allowed him to take a slightly more prominent position within a furlong of the start. Shoemark did not do too much wrong but Buick, with his much great wealth of big-race experience, did everything right, from a better position in the early stages.
Shoemark – somewhat oddly, perhaps, given the news – is still expected to ride the stable’s two runners, Queen Of Thieves (2.35) and Marnier (4.10) at Chester today, with Gosden expected to use “the best available” from now on when an owner does not have a retained jockey.
Elsewhere on the card, the eight-runner Chester Vase includes four Derby entries – Lambourn, Lazy Griff, Pinhole and Thrice – while the action is under way at 1.30pm with the Lily Agnes Stakes, where Karl Burke’s Ali Shuffle, in stall one, has been backed down to odds-on favouritism.
