3:20 – Lingfield – E B F DUAL CLASSIC WINNING SIRE COCKNEY REBEL RIVER EDEN FILLIES´ STAKES(LISTED RACE) (CLASS 1) (3yo+) Standard To Slow 1m5f
In the six renewals of this Fillies Listed race Saeed Bin Suroor has entered horses on three occasions. In 2006 his horses finished 2nd and 3rd. In 2009 his one representative won the race and in 2010 his two runners finished 1st and 4th. Therefore it is prudent to consider his runners very carefully and he has two representatives today. The 4 year old Rhum can be very dangerous when she gets an uncontested lead but with Polygon, Good Morning Star and Albamara in the race this is unlikely to happen.
Both of Saeed Bib Suroor’s winners of the race have been sent off as favourite and this is likely to be the case with the very lightly raced but potentially highly progressive 3 year old Surprise Moment. She makes her all weather debut today and is stepping up in class and distance from the Class 3 Handicap she won at Newmarket on her last start.
Surprise Moment made her debut in July this year winning a Class 5 Maiden at Windsor when she came from a long way back inside the final furlong to win by ½ length going away. It was not surprising that she did not make her first start until she was three as she is a big individual. She showed on her debut that she possesses plenty of ability, which is not surprising as she is by the Derby winner Authorized and is a half sister to the Ribblesdale winner, Flying Cloud.
She ran over 1 mile 2 furlongs again on her second start at Nottingham in August and once again she came through inside the final furlong to win by ½ length. She needed virtually every yard of the trip to get home and on her last start she was put up in trip to 1 mile 4 furlongs. The longer trip proved to be no obstacle to her progress and she made smooth progress to challenge out wide before showing a good turn of foot to quicken and win by 1 length, leaving the strong impression that she still had something in hand if required.
She runs over a further furlong today and on the evidence of her Newmarket win should get the extra distance easily. She is ridden by Mickael Barzalona today, who can be an acquired taste, but does have a decent strike rate at Lingfield with 6 winners from 24 rides, including three 3 year old winners from just nine rides. He also has a 16% winning strike rate riding for Saeed Bin Suroor and by riding the winner in last year’s Derby and the Dubai World Cup, the St Ledger and the Shadwell’s Fillies Mile this year has shown that he is a very good talent.
Surprise Moment has been very progressive on all three of her starts to date. She is stepping up in class today to Listed level and she is up in trip and running on the all weather for the first time but she have very sound claims on her form to date and it would be no surprise to see her make it 4 wins from 4 runs this afternoon.
