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Betfred Temple Stakes |
“Budapest Bullet” Overdose Heads 27 Entries for Temple Stakes
05/05/09
Hungarian sprinting phenomenon Overdose heads 27 entries for the £100,000 Group Two betfred.com Temple Stakes, run over five furlongs at Haydock Park on Saturday, May 23.
The four-year-old son of Starborough, sold for just 2,000 guineas at Tattersalls in Newmarket as a yearling, is unbeaten in 12 career starts and has registered victories in Hungary, Italy Austria, Slovakia and Germany. His biggest success to date came in the Group Two Goldene Peitsche at Baden-Baden in August, 2008. He was also first past the post in last season’s Group One Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp, scoring by four lengths, only to see the race declared void due to a false start. He is owned by Zoltan Mikoczy, a steel merchant based in Slovakia, and trained in Hungary by Sandor Ribarszki.
Nicknamed the “Budapest Bullet” or “Dozi”, Overdose made his seasonal reappearance at Hungary’s only racecourse, Kincsem Park, on April 19 and won in record time before a crowd of 20,000. A third of Hungary’s population of 10 million is thought to have watched the race on television.
Overdose, who always blazes the trail from the front, has a huge legion of fans and is set to travel to Haydock Park to contest the betfred.com Temple Stakes. Ace Belgian jockey Christophe Soumillon has been retained to ride Overdose in all his races this season.
Sandor Ribarszski revealed today: “We are hoping to get Overdose ready for the betfred.com Temple Stakes but he has suffered a problem with his shoes, which is causing him pain. We have taken off his shoes and put some medication on his hooves.
“He was working very well last week until we noticed that he was in pain on Saturday night, so I took the shoes off and called the vet immediately.
“He will return on Thursday and there will hopefully be no more pus left in his foot and we can get him back working again. If not, then we have to make other plans for Overdose, but I am hopeful of taking him to Haydock at the moment.
“It’s frustrating and the same problem with his shoes happened just days before his last run. He still bolted in, even though his plates fell off during the race, but the races in Britain will be far harder contests for him.
“The farrier came and put some new plates on him afterwards and it is possible that they might have been too tight for him, which is why he is in pain.
“I will never forget his latest victory at Kincsem Park and I think that anybody who was there, or has seen the race on TV, will ever forget either. I have never seen a day’s racing in Hungary like that before, with so many people coming to see one horse run.
“I know we are going to come up against some very good sprinters in the betfred.com Temple Stakes but, if we can get Overdose 100% ready and he makes the journey over in good shape, I think he will be very hard to beat.”
At Haydock Park, Overdose is sure to face some stiff competition with the likes of last year’s Group One King’s Stand Stakes victor Equiano, the Group One Nunthorpe Stakes victor Borderlescott as well as Saturday’s impressive Palace House Stakes scorer Amour Propre also among the entries. Godolphin has two possible representatives in Dandy Man and Diabolical, while sprint specialist David Nicholls could run Tax Free, who has won his last three starts including the Listed Abernant Stakes at Newmarket on April 16 when he defeated Equiano.
The betfred.com Temple Stakes is the highlight of Haydock Park’s three-day meeting on May 21, 22 and 23. Saturday’s card also features one of the most competitive three-year-old handicaps of the season, the £85,000 Betfred Silver Bowl over a mile.
THE betfred.com TEMPLE STAKES
Class One, Group Two, £100,000 Total Prize Fund. Haydock Park, Saturday, May 23, 2009. For three-year-olds and upwards, five furlongs. Weights: 3yo colts & geldings 8st 10lb; 3yo fillies 8st 7lb. 4yo+ colts & geldings 9st 4lb; 4yo+ fillies & mares 9st 1lb. Penalties: after August 31, 2008, a winner of a Group Two race 4lb; of a Group One race 7lb. Entries closed May 5 (27 entries), five-day confirmation stage May 18. Final declaration stage 10.00am, May 21. Form figures supplied by Weatherbys and are correct up to and including the racing of Monday, May 4.
Form Horse Age Owner Trainer
0(0)0(4)-21 ADVANCED 6 T Doherty and McHeen Kevin Ryan
0111-1 AMOUR PROPRE 3 Simon Broke and Partners Henry Candy
416254- ANGLEZARKE (IRE) 3 David Armstrong Tim Easterby
16(1)(1)-(1)(1) ARGANIL (USA) 4 The Big Moment Kevin Ryan
2313(1)-3 BORDERLESCOTT 7 James Edgar & William Donaldson Robin Bastiman
11/1400- CAPTAIN GERRARD (IRE) 4 Reg Bond Bryan Smart
230-(5)02 CRIMSON FERN (IRE) 5 Malcolm Saunders Malcolm Saunders
04300-0 DANDY MAN (IRE) 6 Godolphin Saeed bin Suroor
5022-(3)(3) DIABOLICAL (USA) 6 Godolphin Saeed bin Suroor
12140-2 EQUIANO (FR) 4 James Acheson Barry Hills
11005-0 FAT BOY (IRE) 4 Maurice Sines Peter Chapple-Hyam
1034-(2)0 HOGMANEIGH (IRE) 6 Lucille Bone Stuart Williams
5-316(2)3 JUDD STREET 7 Fulke Johnson Houghton Eve Johnson Houghton
30201-0 KING'S APOSTLE (IRE) 5 Bernard Kantor William Haggas
61124-1 LOOK BUSY (IRE) 4 A Underwood Alan Berry
521(3)-(2)0 MASTA PLASTA (IRE) 6 Lady O'Reilly David Nicholls
63120-0 MOORHOUSE LAD 6 Ron Hull Bryan Smart
11111-1 OVERDOSE 4 MIKO Racing-Zoltan Mikoczy Sandor Ribarszki HUN
(1)11120- PERCOLATOR 3 A H Robinson Paul Cole
300(5)0-2 REVERENCE 8 Gary & Lesley Middlebrook Eric Alston
2114-65 RIEVAULX WORLD 3 Rievaulx Racing Syndicate Kevin Ryan
12500-1 SPIN CYCLE (IRE) 3 H E Sheikh Rashid Bin Mohammed Bryan Smart
1/(3)43P-0 STARLIT SANDS 4 Kirsten Rausing Sir Mark Prescott
22411-1 TAX FREE (IRE) 7 Ian Hewitson David Nicholls
310022- THUNDEROUS MOOD (USA) 3 Fitri Hay Paul Cole
61521-1 TOTAL GALLERY (IRE) 3 Coleman Bloodstock Limited Stan Moore
3020-34 WI DUD 5 John Duddy, L Duddy, P Mcbride, E Duffy Kevin Ryan
27 entries
1 Hungarian-trained
