Brighton owner Tony Bloom nets another winner with Santorini Star at Doncaster

Kia Joorabchian’s big-money buys for his Amo Racing operation have grabbed the headlines at the yearling sales in recent seasons, but another investor with a football background has also been building a significant presence on the turf and for the moment at least, the blue-and-white silks of the Brighton chairman, Tony Bloom, are giving their opponents the runaround.

Santorini Star, a four-year-old filly making the step up from handicaps to Group Two company in the Park Hill Stakes, was a fourth winner in the space of just six days for Bloom and his partner, Ian McAleavy, on Thursday.

It is a golden run of form that has already banked more than £150,000 in prize money and the manner of Santorini Star’s win here was also hugely encouraging with future targets in mind. William Haggas’s front-running filly showed impressive grit to regain the initiative after a brief moment two out when she faced challengers on either side. Half a furlong later, though, she was back in front, and she stayed on strongly to the line to beat Consent by a neck.

“She comes off the bridle quite early, but you never really feel in trouble,” Tom Marquand, the winner’s jockey, said, “and I always feel like the first flick you give her will give you a good indication of what she’s going to do. I gave her that first flick today and I thought the Prescott filly [Consent] would have to be good to beat her.

“It was a big step up from a handicap win at York, but she’s really finding her mojo and her legs now. She’s gone up a big notch to win a Group Two and there are plenty of options for her over a mile and six (furlongs) or two miles or even further if you wanted to.”

An immediate target for Santorini Star remains undecided, but she could be a horse to follow in Cup races next year according to Sean Graham, Bloom and McAleavy’s racing manager.

“She won over two miles last time and it was a concern coming back to a mile and six and a half,” Graham said. “I don’t know what plans William has for her this year, but you’d like to think she could turn into a Cup filly next year. Tom said she kept finding, put her head down and didn’t stop and that’s what you need.”

Bloom and McAleavy will now hope to extend their winning run to Sunday’s Group One Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh, where their unbeaten two-year-old filly, Venetian Sun, will set off near the head of the market.

Karl Burke, Venetian Sun’s trainer, will also head into the weekend in winning form as he took the May Hill Stakes, the main supporting race on the card, with Aylin, who is part-owned by Joorabchian in partnership with Al Shaqab Racing.

“She was very well and very fit today,” Burke said. “I don’t know if you’ll improve much on fitness with her, and it’s just a question of whether she can hold her form for another month and we can run her in one of the Group Ones.”

Soumillon to strike with Mission Central

Christophe Soumillon has drawn a blank from six rides since being drafted in to replace the injured Ryan Moore as Aidan O’Brien’s temporary No 1 rider, but Mission Central should get him off the mark in his stand-in role when he lines up for the Flying Childers Stakes at Doncaster on Friday, the feature race on day two of the St Leger Festival.

The Flying Childers is one of just two Group Two events for juveniles in Britain that O’Brien has yet to win, though it is clearly not a race that figures prominently in his race-planning as he has saddled just four runners this century and none since 2017.

O’Brien is double-handed this time around, however, with Kansas, the winner of one of his six starts to date, also in the field, but Mission Central has more scope for improvement after just three outings and put up a useful effort to win a Group Three at the Curragh last time out.

Lady Iman, the Molecomb winner at Glorious Goodwood in July, is the top-rated runner on Timeform ratings but she needs to bounce back from a lacklustre performance in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York three weeks ago, and even a repeat of her Goodwood form might not be enough if Mission Central (2.25) can continue his race-by-race improvement.

Doncaster 1.15 Nothing went right for Shadow Dance in the Ebor at York last time out, as Roger Varian’s gelding stumbled on the home turn and then made an unsustainable move into contention before inevitably fading in the final quarter-mile. He remains lightly-raced for a five-year-old and finished a close third in this race 12 months ago off a 1lb higher mark.

Doncaster 1.50 Karl Burke’s Hankelow was a pricey yearling at 750k gns (£787k) and posted a debut effort to match in a novice event at York in June. He may have been waiting for better ground since and this Listed contest is a logical next step.

Doncaster 3.00 Last year’s winner, Sweet William, has a few quirks but remains impressively consistent all the same and has an obvious chance of a repeat success.

Salisbury 3.25 Awaken’s one-and-a-half length second in a strong renewal of the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot in June is the stand-out form here and George Boughey’s filly should back up her subsequent short-odds success at Leicester.

Doncaster 3.40 An opening mark of 93 could well underestimate Roger Varian’s Little Dorrit, who was better than the bare result when finishing within three lengths of the winner at Listed level last time.