Hungerford can bring the best out of Primo Bacio

Published date10 August 2022
It is not the first time she has not performed at Goodwood, which is about as unconventional as they come, so we can forgive her that. She loves fast ground and Newbury is very straightforward. She ran a blinder in the Fred Darling last year over the course and distance so I'm hoping she can bounce back to top form

Before Royal Ascot, I was worried she was not going to get back to her peak three-year-old form but her third in the Duke of Cambridge and fourth in the Falmouth were not far off that level. She is very well and I would not be surprised to see her run a big race.

Great Ambassador is entered at Newmarket in a race he won last year, but Ripon's Great St Wilfrid is an alternative. I am not convinced by the track for him there though, so Newmarket is the most likely next step.

He's also in great order and came out of Goodwood, where he was a close sixth in the Stewards' Cup, very well. I said after that we'd go for stakes races, but there aren't any about and the next opportunity would be the Garrowby Stakes, which he won last year, at York on September 4.

He's coming back to his best, so could have a big second half of the season.

Ripon is a possible destination for Perfect Prophet, but she would need some rain. She was seventh on her debut at Newbury last month and can build on that, but only if there's some give in the ground. She will relish stepping up in trip.

Star Sprite may also head to Yorkshire for a race at Doncaster, although she's in at Southwell on Sunday as well. I'd expect improvement from her first start as well, although that was slightly disappointing.

I'll head over to Deauville for the sales this weekend and also to watch Kawida run in Sunday's Prix Minerve, a Group 3 over a mile and four and a half furlongs.

It's for three-year-old fillies and is a good target for her, and has been for a while. She didn't fire against older fillies and mares in the Lancashire Oaks, but conditions were bad and it was a messy race. She's had time to freshen up and this is a perfect next step. I can't wait to run her and apparently the ground was lovely at Deauville on Sunday. I hope she will be reunited with Tom Marquand, which would be a real bonus.

There's a valuable handicap at Chelmsford on Sunday for Makarova, although the Flying Fillies' Stakes is the same afternoon at Pontefract and also an option.

She's owned by Jeff and Phoebe Hobby, who bred her, therefore getting some black type would be important, but we'll see how the races look...

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