Aomori City leads strong Craven hand for Charlie Appleby

Aomori City and Opera Ballo are two of four entries for Charlie Appleby in the bet365 Craven Stakes at Newmarket on Wednesday.

The Moulton Paddocks handler has saddled three of the last six winners of the 2000 Guineas trial, with the success of subsequent Derby hero Masar in 2018 followed by victories for Master Of The Seas (2021) and Native Trail (2022), both of whom went on to finish second in the Guineas a few weeks later.

Aomori City will bring top-class juvenile form to the table if taking his chance in this year’s Craven Stakes, with a Group Two triumph in Goodwood’s Vintage Stakes followed by two sound efforts in defeat at Group One level in the National Stakes in Ireland and in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

Opera Ballo on the other hand has yet to race on grass, but could hardly have been more impressive in winning his first two starts at Kempton, minor races won by stablemate Notable Speech on his way to Guineas glory last season.

Appleby’s Craven team is completed by Al Qudra, who was last seen winning in Qatar but is declared to run on Saturday at Newbury, and Anno Domini, who won his first two outings before finishing fifth in the Futurity Trophy at Doncaster in the autumn.

The highest-rated horse in the potential field is James Owen’s Royal Lodge winner and Futurity Trophy third Wimbledon Hawkeye, while Andrew Balding could run New Century, who beat Al Qudra in a Grade One in Canada last year before placing fourth at the Breeders’ Cup.

The Juddmonte silks are set to be carried by Field Of Gold, who landed the Solario Stakes at Sandown last summer for John and Thady Gosden and then finished fourth in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere on Arc weekend at ParisLongchamp.

Juddmonte’s European racing manager, Barry Mahon, said: “That (Craven) is the likely plan, although it is ground dependent as we wouldn’t want to run in a trial on very fast ground.

“I’m told there is a bit of rain forecast for Tuesday/Wednesday next week so we’ll watch and see how that develops, but at the minute he’s on course for the Craven.”

The Ralph Beckett-trained Matauri Bay was second to Field Of Gold in the Solario and could take him on once more on what will be his first competitive appearance since disappointing in the Criterium International at Saint-Cloud in October.

“It was well-documented he had a troubled passage to France and some issues with the French authorities at Calais, so we have just put a line through that,” said Alex Elliott, racing adviser to Matauri Bay’s part-owners Valmont.

“He looked a good colt on his first two starts last year, so hopefully can get him back on an upwards curve and we’re looking forward to a good year with him.”

Aidan O’Brien’s sole entry is Officer, with Group Three winner The Waco Kid (Hugo Palmer) and the unbeaten pair of The Watcher (Karl Burke) and Tuscan Hills (Raphael Freire) also featuring among 15 entries in total.