There were a couple of interesting three year-old lead up races to the Classics at Newbury overnight with the winners an unbeaten filly that is now the pride of Italy and a gelding by Harry Angel.
The Group III Greenham Stakes (7f) for colts and geldings was won by Harry Angel gelding Esquire, so there will be no classic aspirations for him. Trained by David O’Meara and ridden by Daniel Tudhope. Esquire scored by a length and a quarter over Churchill colt El Bodon with the race favourite Zoum Zoum, a gelded son of Zoustar in third place.
It was a surprise win for Esquire, who had a win and a Listed placing from three starts last season.
“I wasn't sure he would stay the seven today, but today has opened that option,” said David O'Meara.
“We loved him before he won his maiden which was only at Hamilton and then he finished second in a listed race at York, but he disappointed at Doncaster on heavy ground at the end of last season. I thought he could come here today and maybe finish fourth or fifth, but I wasn't sure he would win.”
Esquire is a homebred for Cheveley Park Stud and is the 12th stakes-winner for Harry Angel, who shuttles to Australia for Darley. He is a sibling to Group winners Audience and Dark Lady (who is by Harry Angel’s sire Dark Angel) from stakes-winning Oasis Dream mare Ladyship, a daughter of dual Group I winning mare Peeress.
The Group III Fred Darling Stakes (7f) for the fillies was won by the Marco Botti trained Due Diligence filly Folgaria, who reeled off six successive wins in Italy last year from 1100 to 1600m and brought her winning form to the UK in her first appearance this year. Ridden by Hollie Doyle, she was too good by a neck beating Cheveley Park Stud’s homebred Frankel filly Regal Jubilee.
The win was an emotional won for the stable with Marco Botti’s wife Lucie in attendance and she paid tribute to the late Italian jockey Stefano Cherchi on the day of his funeral in his Sardinian hometown of Sassari.
Cherchi rode 38 winners for Botti, who was at the funeral and had described him as "part of the family" after his death at the start of the month from race-riding injuries sustained in Australia two weeks earlier.
"You couldn't write this – Andrea [Atzeni] winning the Sydney Cup with Stefano's parents there and now this filly bringing Italian racing to life again, it's quite special. It's great for Italian racing,” she said.
"Marco went to Stefano's funeral and obviously his brother (Stefano Botti) trained this filly in Italy. Everyone is going to be so pleased, especially in the yard. The winter can be so hard for everyone, so it's always so good to have such beautiful horses and those animals just bring us to life."
Bought for just €10,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland September Part II Yearling Sale, Folgaria is headed next to the Group I French 1000 Guineas.
"The immediate plan is likely to be the French Guineas and after that the sky is the limit. She could be an international filly and hopefully she’s not sold too soon for us,” Lucie Botti said.
“She's very talented, she's the champion Italian filly and she has shown now she’s good enough everywhere else."
Folgaria is the best of five stakes-winners for War Front stallion Due Diligence (USA), who stood at Whitsbury Manor for €5,000 in 2023. She is the best of two winners from Full Moon Fever, a winning sister to stakes-winner Glorious Protector and three-quarter sister-in-blood to Italian Group II winner Amore Hass.
