Crouch hoping to secure Group 1 double on You Got To Me in Pertemps Network Yorkshire Oaks

Hector Crouch fulfilled a long-held ambition when enjoying a career-first Group 1 success on You Got To Me in last month’s Irish Oaks and now has high hopes of adding a second top-level success in Thursday’s £500,000 Pertemps Network Yorkshire Oaks, the second of four QIPCO British Champions Series races being held at this week’s York Ebor Festival.

The quality of Crouch’s mounts has taken a distinct upturn since he became one of Ralph Beckett’s regular riders and he had felt that a Group 1 win was coming, but the relief was palpable when You Got To Me, who he has ridden in all of her six races, beat the favourite Content and 12 others including Lava Stream and Port Fairy at the Curragh.

“Relief summed it up quite nicely,” he agrees. “It was an ambition I’ve held for probably my whole life in racing and it had felt like a realistic target for the last couple of years. I’ve said before that probably 90 percent of the weighing room are good enough to win a Group 1 if they find the right horse, and the improvement in the class of horses I was riding was noticeable.

“I’m very fortunate to have stumbled upon You Got To Me and she’s a filly I’ve always held in high regard. You hope that they are good enough to win these big races, but it’s very, very hard. But now that I’ve won one Group 1 I’m hungry for another. Absolutely.”

You Got To Me won the Lingfield Oaks Trial despite pretty much running away with Crouch, and although she was more amenable in the Oaks itself, where she finished fourth, her headstrong tendencies cost her dear in the Ribblesdale Stakes, where in the circumstances she did remarkably well to hang on to fourth again behind Port Fairy and Lava Stream. She was a different filly in a first-time tongue strap at the Curragh, where she won fair and square.

Crouch said: “She ran her race the right way around on ground that was a little slow for her at Epsom, but at Ascot she went tearing off down the hill and did well all things considered. The tongue tie and the strong pace helped at the Curragh, and she got a little bump coming out of the stalls that just set her back on her hocks, which was no bad thing.

“I hope Thursday’s race doesn’t turn into a tactical affair, but I think Content wants a good gallop too and we just want an even tempo. She’s on good terms with herself.”

Beckett has an outstanding record with fillies, but the Yorkshire Oaks has so far eluded him and Bluestocking, who runs in Wednesday’s Juddmonte International, could finish no closer than fourth last year. 

“You Got To Me has trained well since the Curragh and I think this is a good spot for her. She’ll really enjoy herself around York so we are looking forward to her. The form book says she’s getting better all of the time, and she’s certainly got better with racing. She’s more settled now, and she’ll run in the tongue strap she wore in Ireland once again.”

Content heads Coolmore’s challenge for a Sixth Petemps Network Yorkshire Oaks

Aidan O’Brien, who with seven previous winners including Warm Heart last year is only one off the record number of wins by a trainer, supplemented Content at a cost of £40,000. A Galileo daughter of the dual Nunthorpe Stakes winner Mecca’s Angel and closely related to this year’s runaway Chesham Stakes winner Bedtime Story, she has shown improved form at the Curragh lately, finishing third behind Bluestocking in the Pretty Polly Stakes before her three-quarter-length second in the Irish Oaks. The stable also runs Port Fairy, who beat only one rival in the latter race.

Improving Pride to bear her teeth on the Knavesmire?

John and Thady Gosden have leading chances with both the upwardly mobile Queen Of The Pride and last year’s Coronation Cup winner Emily Upjohn. 

Emily Upjohn impressed in the Musidora on her only previous appearance at York and she would be hard to beat on her best form. She would be a popular and most welcome winner for Kieran Shoemark, who has been out of luck on the big occasions for the stable so far this year, but the market prefers the superbly-bred Qatar Racing-owned Queen Of The Pride, who is by Roaring Lion out of the St Leger winner Simple Verse.

Queen Of The Pride followed a narrow Listed win over Lady Boba in Haydock’s Lester Piggott Stakes with a three-length success in the Group 2 Lancashire Oaks (Mistral Star third) on the day that racing at Haydock was later abandoned owing to the slippery surface. She had Sea Theme behind both times.

Jockey Oisin Murphy said: “I was lucky enough to win on both her mother and her father and she’s a very important filly for Sheikh Fahad and Qatar Racing.

“She’s obviously stepping up in class again, but she’s been really good since Haydock and she deserves her chance in a Group 1. I sat out the back that day and we went around the bend very steadily, but she won well and has an upward profile.”

Marquand hopes Sea can be Theme of the day in Thursday’s £500,000 feature

Sea Theme represents William Haggas, who won the 2018 Yorkshire Oaks with favourite Sea Of Class, another Sea The Stars filly. She won the Listed Galtres Stakes at last year’s Ebor meeting and stepped up on her two Haydock runs when gaining a second Listed success in smooth fashion at Clairefontaine last month.

Jockey Tom Marquand likes her and said: “It was a busy day at home and so I didn’t ride her when she won in France, but I’ve ridden her in most of her other races, including when she won the Galtres over the Yorkshire Oaks course and distance a year ago and again on that horrendous day at Haydock when it was so slippy.

“She’s a lovely filly who has done well physically and looked great when I saw her the other morning. She’s going into deeper waters than ever before, but she’s definitely going in the right direction and is well worth her chance here.”