Tangerine Trees grows further to win Rous Stakes
Blind speed may be the essence of sprinting but a drop to five furlongs and the return to using a visor has taken Tangerine Trees to new heights.
His trainer, Bryan Smart, admitted that it had been the owner’s idea to run at Beverley a week ago, when the five-year-old won a conditions’ race despite having over a stone and a half to find on the market leader. But he found it and he found just as much again to win the Listed Newsells Park Stud Golden Bonus Rous Stakes at Newmarket.
Tangerine Trees went into this race rated 26lbs behind Tax Free, who had finished third in that Beverley race, but came out of it with his reputation increased. He was not that quickly away from the stalls but accelerated smartly in the first furlong for Tom Eaves, which allowed the jockey to tack over to the centre of the track. He had the rest of the field under pressure from two furlongs out and held Tax Free by a neck without looking all out to do so.
“He’s just kept improving,” Eaves said. “We’ve put a visor on him, brought him back to five and it seems to have done the trick. But he has always wanted time and the boss always said he would but he has surprised us a bit. The visor has sharpened him up – in the past over six he’d make it but he’d prick his ears and steady away in front.”
Tangerine Trees had surprised plenty of others when he won that conditions race at Beverley and Eaves admitted: “He was 24lb wrong going in to that race but he’s followed up today so he’s proved everyone wrong really.”
Harris Tweed was never going to be a sprinter, his first start of his career as a two-year-old was over seven furlongs, and as three-year-old he has developed into a useful stayer. He did not really perform, and may have been out of his depth, when he ran down the field behind Rewilding in the group Two Great Voltigeur Stakes at York last month but he earned his first win in black type with a typically front-running run in the Listed Noel Murless Stakes.
Liam Jones deserves credit for the way that he brought Harris Tweed under control after he became lit up in the first quarter-mile and threatened to run his race before the first mile. In fact Jones was able to pick his moment, which was with about three furlongs to run as he came three lengths clear of Ship’s Biscuit.
“He’s so enthusiastic. He pricks his old lugs and he loves it,” winning trainer William Haggas said. “I thought he looked to be going too free early on but he’s a resolute galloper.”
That enthusiasm brings its own problems and Haggas is keen to save Harris Tweed from his own fervour. “I’d like to put him away now because I don’t feel that we’ve got anything more to gain. He runs his guts out – when they go like that they have a much harder race than it might appear. And I think he’s done enough and he deserves a good holiday.
“I’m not convinced he needs to make it, I just think he’s a galloper and so why waste your time hanging around at the back of the field? It was a mile-and-six today, which is the first time he’s tackled that and he’s stayed on well. My plan is to start him off in the Ormonde and then we’ll work out way form there. He could be a Goodwood Cup horse.”
Ed Dunlop’s plans for this weekend have been thrown into disarray by the weather with Snow Fairy (Prix de l'Opera) and Native Khan (Prix Jean Luc Lagadere) both pulled out of their respective Group One races at Longchamp this weekend.
Speaking on his website, the trainer said: “It was an easy decision in the end - the ground is soft at Longchamp and getting softer by the minute. It looks like being the most testing conditions they have had on Arc day since 1999, so there is no point in us travelling. Snow Fairy will be kept in reserve for the Emirates Airlines Champion Stakes here at Newmarket on October 16th, while Native Khan still has two options, the Dewhurst Stakes on the same day or the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster a week later."
http://www.senore.com/Rerouted-goes-straight-to-win-Somerville-Tattersall-Stakes-a30895
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