Luxembourg runs away with Vertem Futurity Trophy Stakes
Capping an unbeaten three-start campaign, Luxembourg made short work of eight rivals Saturday at Doncaster, winning the Group 1 Vertem Futurity Trophy Stakes by 1 3/4 lengths under Ryan Moore.
Racing from fifth position in this straight-course mile, the final Group 1 of the English flat season, Luxembourg ranged into contention approaching the two-furlong marker and had opened a clear lead with a furlong remaining. His lack of experience may have prevented him from bearing down and widening his advantage, but nothing came close to reeling-in Luxembourg, who gave trainer Aidan O’Brien his 10th win in this race.
Luxembourg, by Camelot out of Attire, by Danehill Dancer, has the stride and pedigree of a Derby horse, but O’Brien believes the colt will have ample speed to contend over one mile in the 2000 Guineas in May. Luxembourg, who won his first two starts in Ireland going one mile around turns over good going, handled the straight mile on soft ground with no issue Saturday.
Sissoko came out on top of a four-horse blanket finish for second, beating out Bayside Boy, Hannibal Barca, and Imperial Fighter. Bayside Boy probably was second-best after getting stuck behind a wall of horses approaching the final quarter-mile and having to swing sharply to his left to get into the gap opened by Luxembourg’s charge to the front. Bayside Boy had been considered a potential runner in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, but trainer Roger Varian in post-race comments suggested he would not race again this year.
*** France
Angel Bleu shipped again from England to capture his second French Group 1 this fall, edging Ancient Rome by a head in the Criterium International on Saturday at Saint-Cloud.
Trained by Ralph Beckett and ridden for the fourth time in a row by Frankie Dettori, Angel Bleu now has won five times from an eight-start campaign, adding the Criterium to his Oct. 3 tally in the Jean-Luc Lagardere on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe undercard.
By Dark Angel out of Cercle De La Vie, by Galileo, Angel Bleu loves soft ground, and while the Saint-Cloud course was not as wet as Longchamp on Arc Day, it had enough give for Angel Bleu to stave of the Andre Fabre-trained Ancient Rome, who looks like a talented colt in his own right. Angel Bleu, who won Saturday in his first trip over one mile, will be aimed toward the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket next spring.
The card’s other Group 1 contest for 2-year-olds, the 1 1/4-mile Criterium de Saint-Cloud, was won gate to wire by another English shipper, El Bodegon. Trained by James Ferguson and ridden by Ioritz Mendizabal, El Bodegon, making his Group 1 debut, turned back a challenge from favored Goldspur, who faded to third, and held off a late run from second-place Stone Age. El Bodegon, who won for the third time in five races, is by Kodiac out of Al Andalyya, by Kingmambo.