Head looking to Shake up Sun Chariot

Siyoushake is one of three French runners hoping to land the Sun Chariot Stakes. Picture:racingfotos.com

Chantilly trainer Freddy Head will bid for his eighth British Group 1 win in the last nine years when he saddles Siyoushake in what promises to be a top quality renewal of the Kingdom Of Bahrain Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket’s Rowley Mile Racecourse on Saturday (1st October).

Four of the ten confirmed entries in this £250,000 fillies and mares event – which is the sixth of seven races in the Mile category of the QIPCO British Champions Series – have already been successful at Group 1 level. And all but two of the other six candidates have been placed in at least one top level contest.

“Siyoushake is in good heart and the Sun Chariot Stakes has been the plan for her ever since she won the Prix Quincey at Deauville at the end of August,” said Head.

“That is pretty strong form [the third, Waikika, won a Group 1 in Italy yesterday] but Saturday is going to be tough for her. Volta was three lengths in front of her in the Prix Rothschild so on paper she cannot beat her, but we’ll have to see.

“Siyoushake loves a straight mile and fast ground, which she is likely to get on Saturday, so that will help. I got Siyoushake from Jonathan Pease at the end of last year, and he told me that she was a very nice filly with a lot of quality but that she was not an easy character.

“That proved to be the case, as she refused to go into the stalls when I first got her. But I sent her away to the horse whisperer, Nicolas Blondeau, and ever since she came back from him she has made a lot of improvement, changing into a lovely quiet mare.”

Half of the ten entries hail from outside Britain, including the brilliant recent Group 1 Matron Stakes heroine, Alice Springs, from the yard of Ireland’s Champion Trainer, Aidan O’Brien.

Siyoushake, who broke her Pattern Race duck in the Group 3 Prix Quincey at Deauville last month, is part of a three-strong French contingent alongside the three-time Group 1 winner of last season, Ervedya, and Volta, a Group 2 scorer at Chantilly in June and runner-up in the Group 1 Prix Rothschild on her latest start.

The overseas challenge is completed by the South African Champion racemare, Smart Call, easy winner of the prestigious Group 1 J & B Met in Cape Town on her latest start, back in January.

The home defence is led by the Matron Stakes second, Persuasive, and Always Smile, third to Alice Springs in the Group 1 Tattersalls 250th Year Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket’s Moët & Chandon July Festival.

Full list of entries for the Kingdom of Bahrain Sun Chariot Stakes: Alice Springs, Always Smile, Arabian Queen, Epsom Icon, Ervedya, Irish Rookie, Persuasive, Siyoushake, Smart Call, Volta.