The red-hot Richard Fahey will attempt to land the bet365 Two Year Old Trophy Conditions Stakes for the second year running when he saddles Moving Force at Beverley on Saturday.
The Musley Bank handler has won this with Summer Sands (2019) and Bombay Bazaar (2023) in recent years with both marching on to run at Royal Ascot and he could have another above-average juvenile on his hands judged by his taking debut at the track last month.
The son of Mehmas was always in control over the same five furlongs he faces here and his handler is taking plenty of encouragement from that performance ahead of this step into deeper waters.
š Moving Force (Mehmas) wins the Ire-Incentive It Pays To Buy Irish Novice Stakes on debut at @Beverley_Races and looks a nice prospect for the @RichardFahey teamā¦@OisinOrr pic.twitter.com/cETWMt4PTe
ā Racing TV (@RacingTV) May 14, 2024
āWe were very pleased with him on debut, heās a quick horse and heās entitled to improve for that,ā said Fahey.
āHe does have to give weight all round which feels a bit unfair, but thatās life.
āHeās a very nice colt, we like him and weāll find out if heās an Ascot horse after this.ā
Moving Forceās biggest danger could be Karl Burkeās newcomer Shareholder, who carries a big reputation having been recently purchased for ā¬460,000 and has been delighting connections in the lead up to his racecourse bow.
āHe was bought from the Arqana breeze-up so it is quite a quick turnaround, but when we bought him I said to Karl āletās give him a chance of being an Ascot horseā,ā said Richard Brown, racing adviser to owners Wathnan Racing.
āKarl hasnāt had him very long but he is very happy and did a serious piece of work the other day.
āItās quite a quick turnaround but the horse is screaming he is ready to run. Letās hope he is and Iāll be nervous watching, but I think he is definitely a nice horse.
āItās a tough race and if it doesnāt happen that is absolutely fine. It will be good to get him out and get him started.
āIāve worked with Karl for a while and when you are buying some of these sharp types, he is an obvious name to drop in the hat to train these breeze-up horses.ā
Pontefract winner Regal Gem carries a similar profile to Moving Force having struck an encouraging blow on debut and will represent Tony Coyle and Kaine Wood, while John and Sean Quinnās Jm Jhingree was tough when opening his account at Redcar and could enjoy this stiff sprint test.
Craig Lidsterās first timer Horus completes the select group of five heading to post.
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