FOURTH ALL-WEATHER CHAMPIONSHIPS KICK OFF AT LINGFIELD PARK
Fast Track Qualifiers
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25 October 2016
The fourth All-Weather Championships get underway at Lingfield Park on Thursday (October 27), with an eight-race programme headlined by the £40,000 32Red EBF Stallions Fleur de Lys Fillies' Stakes (3.10pm, 12 runners). The mile Listed contest is a Fast-Track Qualifier for the £150,000 32Red Fillies & Mares Championships over seven furlongs on Polytrack at Lingfield Park on Finals Day, Good Friday, April 14, 2017.
Godolphin handler Charlie Appleby was champion All-Weather trainer in the 2014/15 season, when he also enjoyed a treble on All-Weather Championships Finals Day. He will be represented in Thursday's contest by Mise En Rose (William Buick), who has progressed through handicap company this year to be placed at both Group and Listed level. The three-year-old War Front filly was runner-up in the G3 Queen's Plate Stakes at Goodwood and Doncaster's G3 Japan Racing Association Sceptre Stakes, both over seven furlongs. She was last seen out when third in the six-furlong Listed Boadicea Fillies' Stakes at Newmarket on October 8. In four starts on the All-Weather, she has won twice, taking a maiden at Kempton Park in 2015 and a Chelmsford City handicap in May this year.Charlie Appleby said today: "Mise En Rose was drawn on the far side at Newmarket, when the first two home were on stands' side, and six furlongs may have been a bit short for her. Ideally, she is a seven-furlong filly but it is an easy mile around Lingfield."She will be dropped in, so being drawn in stall 12 will hopefully not be a major inconvenience. We have put the cheekpieces on again, which is more to help her concentrate in the final quarter-mile."She has won on a synthetic surface in the past and, based on her last run, should be very competitive."We will have a similar approach to this season's All-Weather Championships as we did last year in that we will be aiming to get a team of horses qualified for Good Friday. "We have Antiquarium in mind for the Marathon, Pretend is on the way back for the Sprint and I will try to find a juvenile or two for the Three-Year-Old category. "If Mise En Rose doesn't qualify on Thursday, I will also have a look at getting her qualified in another race because I think seven furlongs around Lingfield on Finals Day will suit her well."The maximum field of 12 (17 horses were declared, with five eliminated) for the 32Red EBF Stallions Fleur de Lys Fillies' Stakes also includes Volunteer Point (Mick Channon/Graham Gibbons), winner of last season's 32Red Fillies & Mares Championships on Good Friday (pictured above) and Muffri'Ha (William Haggas/Pat Cosgrave), successful in the G3 Darley Stakes at Newmarket on October 8. Squash (Charlie McBride/Tom Queally) was twice placed in Group company earlier in the year, including when a close third in the G3 Chartwell Fillies' Stakes over seven furlongs at Lingfield Park on May 7 while Gold Sands (James Tate/Martin Harley), Aljuljalah (Roger Varian/Andrea Atzeni), Battlement (Roger Charlton/Pat Smullen), and Beauly (Charlie Hills/Jamie Spencer) have all been placed at Listed level.There is a challenger from France in Johara (Henri Francois Devin/Shane Kelly), who has twice been placed at Listed level. Thursday's card at Lingfield Park also features the £40,000 32Red EBF Stallions River Eden Fillies' Stakes (4.20pm, 12 runners) over a mile and five furlongs. The 12 starters are all chasing their first Listed victory and include Last Tango In Paris (Hughie Morrison/Frederik Tylicki), a neck runner-up in Listed company at Saint-Cloud in July and Hereawi (Ralph Beckett), who is by Dubawi and out of 2008 Oaks heroine Look Here.The programme gets underway at 1.40pm and concludes at 5.20pm.
