Tuesday 31 August 2010
NATIVE KHAN became a fourth black-type winner for his Gilltown Stud sire AZAMOUR when staying on well to secure the Gr 3 Solario Stakes over seven furlongs at Newbury on Saturday. The grey was only making his second racecourse appearance after an impressive debut win at Newmarket in July and there looks to be plenty more improvement to come from the colt. NATIVE KHAN was bought as a yearling in Deauville last August for € 70,000 by Malcolm Bastard who succeeded in a highly profitable pinhooking operation when selling on the Aliette and Gilles Forien-bred colt at Tattersalls Craven breeze-up in April for 180,000 Guineas. Trainer Ed Dunlop felt that his colt will have no trouble staying a mile, and he indicated that NATIVE KHAN would only have one or two more outings this season. He is entered in top-class contests such as the Gr 1 Dewhurst Stakes and Racing Post Trophy, while the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère at Longchamp is also a possibility for the colt who could well be a 2000 Guineas contender in 2011.
NATIVE KHAN was topping an excellent week for second-season stallion AZAMOUR, whose daughter Eleanora Duse followed up on a Listed win on her previous outing with third place in the Gr 1 Yorkshire Oaks. Also at the Ebor meeting, the consistent Life And Soul took third in the valuable Totesport.com Stakes Handicap.
Pocket a Pound, a 2 yo filly trained by S Botti, broke her maiden in the Criterium di Merano in Italy. Finally, Irish-trained juvenile Mawaakef opened his account in pleasing style in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF maiden at Killarney on Friday. This colt holds an entry in the Gr 2 Beresford Stakes at the Curragh on 26th September, a race won by his sire prior to his successes in the Gr 1 St James’s Palace Stakes, Irish Champion Stakes, Prince of Wales’s Stakes and King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
