Cunco Defeats Five-Horse Field in Classic Trial
Description:
With little more than a month before the June 3 Investec Derby (G1) at Epsom, Sandown Park Racecourse, located in the Surrey countryside near London, staged its first flat group races April 28. Heading the seven-race card was the group 3 bet365 Classic Trial for 3-year-olds going about 1 1/4 miles.
The race turned out to be a clash of the Frankels, as three of the five entries were colts from the sire's first crop. Favored for the Trial was Juddmonte's highly touted Gosden-trained Frankel offering Monarchs Glen, who made a winning start to his season at Kempton back in April.
Don Alberto Stable's homebred Cunco was making his 2017 debut for trainer John Gosden, as was Hussain Lootah and Ahmad Al Shaikh's grey Frankel, Frankuus, trained by Mark Johnston. Rounding out the field were the non-familial outsiders: Acing Lead's Irish-bred Intern (Rip Van Winkle) for trainer Ralph Beckett, and Fierce Impact, a Japanese-bred son of Deep Impact whom David Simcock trains for Qatar Racing.
Monarchs Glen and Frankie Dettori were first out of the gate. Positioned on the inside, the handsome bay, with Dettori trying to mete his speed over the trip, proved an unwilling companion and raced a bit too freely. Franny Norton on Frankuus was content to sit behind the lead pair and began contesting the pace in earnest after the mile, ranging up on the outside.
Meanwhile, Cunco and jockey Robert Tart, who was riding in his first group race, began to make headway from his position near the back, as did Fran Berry aboard Intern.
As the field reached the rising ground, Monarchs Glen gave way, as Frankuus was joined by Intern and Cunco in the race to the finish. Cunco outbattled Intern to win by a head in 2:14.33 on good going, with Frankuus a length farther back in third. Monarchs Glen finished fourth, beaten 3 1/4 lengths, but came in a head better than Fierce Impact.
In winning the Classic Trial, Irish-bred Cunco, a bright bay with a distinctive star out of the group 2-winning, group 1-placed Danehill Dancer mare Chrysanthemum, became the ninth stakes winner (all group winners) for his sire. Cunco was also Frankel's first starter and first winner, taking the 2016 Welcome To The Starlight Raceday Maiden Stakes May 13 at Newbury.
At the 2013 Tattersalls December mares sale, Don Alberto, through Eaton Sales, paid 800,000 guineas ($1,373,820) for Chrysanthemum, who was carrying the Classic Trial winner at the time. As Cunco is her first foal, the hefty price tag could turn out to be quite a bargain.
Frankel, a son of Galileo (Sadler's Wells) out of a Danehill mare, and Chrysanthemum, a Danehill Dancer (Danehill) mare out of a Sadler's Wells mare, makes Cunco inbred to both Sadler's Wells and Danehill on a 3x3 cross.
Certainly the cross of the Galileo branch of the Northern Dancer family tree with mares from the Danehill Dancer branch has brought forth useful fruit. From 69 foals, which are now 3-years-old and up, there are 11 black-type winners (15.9%). Among these are classic winners The Gurkha and Minding, as well as group 1 winner Alice Springs.
The Galileo branch produced a first-generation group winner on the Sandown card April 28, when Ulysses bested seven rivals to win the about 1 1/4-mile bet365 Gordon Richards Stakes by a length over the Coolmore/Ballydoyle color-bearer Deauville, also a son of Galileo.
Bred by the Niarchos family is Ireland, Ulysses is a 4-year-old chestnut colt out of the Niarchos family's homebred Vodafone Epsom Oaks (G1) winner Light Shift, whose sire Kingmambo is also a Niarchos-bred classic winner, having taken the Dubai Poule d'Essai des Poulains (French Two Thousand Guineas, G1) in 1993.
Light Shift is a half sister to three stakes winners: group 1 winner Shiva (Hector Protector), group 2 winner Limnos (Hector Protector), and Burning Sunset (Caerleon).
Third dam Northern Trick (Northern Dancer), a $530,000 Keeneland July yearling purchase in 1982, won the Prix de Diane Hermes (French Oaks, G1) and the Prix Vermeille (G1) under the Niarchos silks.
Sandown's third group stakes on the card Friday, the Sandown Mile, came down to a battle between two veteran sons from the first crop of Dark Angel (Acclamation). Sovereign Debt, an 8-year-old gelding out of the Most Welcome mare Kelsey Rose won by a half-length over fellow 8-year-old gelding Gabrial.