Congratulations to Ed Walker on his first Royal runner, Lightning Polka, being a winning one. It was also the first winner bred by the King. She was always travelling strongly and in true Dick Hern/Joe Mercer fashion she hit the front at the furlong pole and went away from her field. Dare I say it but this was the most promising debut by a Royal 2yo for sometime. I was wrong in my description of her pedigree as she is a half-sister to Light Refrain (by Frankel) and not out of her. This filly's dam is Radley Stakes winner Light Music and there is a yearling colt by Baaeed and a colt foal by St Marks Basilica. The aforementioned Light Refrain has a yearling filly by Zarak and filly foal by Siyouni. All nice sires and hopefully this family will now come to the fore. Treasure reappears today at Ascot and she at last gets soft ground.
Walker, in his column in the Weekender, said that they thought Lightning Polka was a good filly but did not expect her to win FTO. She either goes to Ayr for the Firth of Clyde Stakes or to Newmarket for the Bosra Sham, so must be rated Group class. He also said he had another Royal 2yo whom he really liked. She is Tropical Sands and is a Too Darn Hot filly out of the now sold Shama (from the Shergar family). From the words he used you could infer that the latter was the more promising filly. But they also made one feel that she's for next year. So it's jam tomorrow.
The last Royal 2yo gets named Avarona and has gone into training with Beckett. He's a Camelot filly out of the Royal mare Daphne. Her first foal Perfect Alibi (by Le Havre) was useful and won 3 of her 7 starts including a listed start over 14f (she was also 2nd in the March Stakes) and her other foal to run (and winner) is the disappointing Purple Rainbow (Night of Thunder). Just why she wasn't named until recently and why she has only just gone into training we'll probably never know. What is likely is that we may not see her run this year. Beckett now has four 2yos and he could do with having a Royal winner as he hasn't had one since October 2023. None of his 2yos have run, though one Food for Thought has been entered.
The valiant St Leger neck 2nd Rahiebb draws attention to the Royal colt (and long term absentee) Warrant Holder. In March the latter beat Rahiebb over 10f at Newcastle. For both colts it was their second runs. They came away from the rest of the field (the 3rd was 16 lengths back) and Warrant Holder always had the upper hand and easily held Rahiebb at a distance of 2 and 1/2 lengths. But Rahiebb was giving Warrant Holder 7lb. A literal reading of the form would say Rabiebb was a few pounds superior to Warrant Holder. The question has to be who improved more in the intervening time? We may get some idea on Saturday if Warrant Holder starts in a 10f Novice event at Newmarket. Lightning Polka gets her entry in Ayr's Firth of Clyde on Saturday, with Shoemark already booked. Beckett has entered Food for Thought for a race at Newbury and Newmarket on Saturday. So a bit of activity at last.
The York double act of Aeolian and Golden Handshake (who, there, beat one horse home between the pair of them) repeated their performance exactly this afternoon at Ayr. This was despite the former being backed into favouritism and the latter being second favourite. A piss-poor show.
Warrant Holder reappeared after 6 months and was beaten 3/4 length by what looked a useful Godolphin colt called Mothecombe, who was reappearing after 14 months (he'd been gelded in June '25). The winner was receiving 7lb so there's probably every chance at level weights Warrant Holder would have the edge. The Royal colt physically looked impressive and should improve further. Havlin 'didn't get about him' once challenged by Mothecombe and hopefully this patience will pay off. He should be able to pick up a race in the next 6/7 weeks of the Flat season. As happened last year there are a bunch of Royal unraced 2yos. Here they are under their trainer:- Gosdens Point of Law c by Frankel out of Portfolio Portcullis c by Frankel out of Castle Lady Has another 2yo colt King’s Trust who has run twice unplaced (backed on both occasions). Haggas Lorca’s Waltz c by Lope de Vega out of Sweet Idea Has another 2yo, Brotherhood of Man (twice unplaced), who appears a handicapper at best Beckett Avarona f by Camelot out of Daphne Golden Orbit f Sea the Stars out of Diploma Queen’s Companion f by Dubawi out of Magnetic Charm Has another 2yo, Food for Thought, who has had one run where she showed enough to suggest she could win a race. Balding Evaluate c by Sea the Stars out of Estimate Royal Flurry c by Kingman out of Desert Breeze Has another 2yo, Séance, who has had two outings but she was very disappointing on second start (backed into 3-1). Walker Tropical Sands f by Too Darn Hot out of Shama Has another 2yo, Lightning Polka, who won pleasingly first time out then was slightly disappointing in the Ayr Group 3. Hopefully just too high too soon. I'll be very surprised if King's Trust and Brotherhood of Man are not gelded soon.
Beckett hasn't trained a Royal winner since Treasure won her maiden in October 2023. This filly was kept in training as a 4yo and after a promising 2nd has proved a failure this season. So this season rests very much on his 2yos as regards his Royal results. He has run one, Food for Thought, who did well enough and hopefully will be better next time out. Tomorrow Golden Orbit makes her debut in the penultimate race at Newmarket (7f maiden). She's a Sea the Stars half-sister to Warrant Holder and has a wonderful pedigree. Then Thursday he has another 2yo filly, Queen's Companion, entered in a Salisbury maiden. She is by Dubawi out of a very useful racemare called Magnetic Charm, who had a fairly useful 2yo a few years back called Hard to Resist, who's a full sister to Queen's Companion. With luck Beckett will have had his first Royal 2yo winner by this time next week.
Not only a wonderful pedigree but also a wonderful demeanour. Wins on her debut, always travelling comfortably and beat the favourite by 3/4 length in a faster time than Division 1 of these maidens. Hit the front 2f out and despite being challenged on both sides was totally resolute (showed a little greeness: ran around a bit): Ryan only applied one smack at the furlong pole. Hopefully that's it for the season and that she isn't asked to go pot hunting. Could be a useful 10-12f filly next year. Very promising start.
