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Lanigan and Oxx Targeting DFS Park Hill Stakes at Doncaster 05/09/10

Day two of the 2010 Ladbrokes St Leger Festival, Thursday, September 9, is DFS Ladies Day and in addition to all the fine fashion on display, fillies and mares take centre stage on the track in the £100,000 Group Two DFS Park Hill Stakes (3.45pm), popularly known as the “Fillies’ St Leger”.

This year’s renewal of the DFS Park Hill Stakes, run over the full St Leger distance of one mile, six furlongs and 132 yards, has attracted an entry of 15 including Meeznah. The three-year-old showed herself to be a high-class filly at Epsom in June when, only three weeks after winning her maiden, she finished a neck runner-up to Snow Fairy in the Group One Investec Oaks.

The David Lanigan-trained filly was subsequently fourth to the same rival on ground softer than ideal in the Irish Oaks at the Curragh in July and was a staying-on fourth on her latest outing behind the victorious Midday and runner-up Snow Fairy in the Group One Yorkshire Oaks on August 19, again over a mile and a half.

Lanigan is hoping that the Dynaformer filly will relish the extra distance at Doncaster.

He revealed today: “The DFS Park Hill is the plan. She does her last piece of work tomorrow and we will see how she is then.

“Hopefully, the extra distance will be fine. You don’t know until they try it but everything she has shown so far suggests that she won’t have a problem with it.

“The ground will be ideal for her and all being well everything will go ok - hopefully she will run a good race.”

Representatives of the Classic generation also include Investec Oaks fourth Rumoush from the Marcus Tregoning stable, the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Ship’s Biscuit, who is a half-sister to Hi Calypso, successful in the 2007 renewal of this contest and Dyna Waltz, who has not been seen out since taking the Listed Lingfield Oaks Trial in May.

The four-year-old Roses For The Lady was runner-up to Sariska in the Group One Irish Oaks in 2009 but was not seen again until making a winning return in the Listed Vintage Crop Stakes at Navan in April.

The John Oxx-trained filly has raced only twice more this term, finishing third to Tactic in the Group Three Curragh Cup over a mile and three-quarters at the Curragh in June and filling the same berth over that course and distance behind Rajik on August 21.

Oxx revealed today: “I would say Roses For The Lady is a likely runner in the DFS Park Hill Stakes. Obviously, she likes soft ground, which she is not going to get but I would say we are quite likely to run her at Doncaster - it would be nice to get a drop of rain.

“It has been a terribly dry summer here in Ireland and we have had fast ground all the way through. She tolerates it but it doesn’t suit her. It has restricted her a bit and we were happy to wait for an autumn campaign hoping that the weather would change but there is still no sign of that, so we will just have to grin and bear it and let her take her chance.

“We were delighted with her first run this year at Navan when she won because the ground was on the firm side of good that day. She ran an even better race in the Curragh Cup, a tougher race, when she was third again on fast ground.

“She disappointed the other day at the Curragh in the Ballycullen Stakes but she got quite worked up beforehand and didn’t run her race. If we can keep her a bit more relaxed in the preliminaries this time, hopefully she will return back to one of her better performances.”

The older generation is well-represented in the DFS Park Hill Stakes with the likes of the Mark Johnston-trained pair Eastern Aria, a Group Three winner at Glorious Goodwood and Lady Eclair, successful in a Listed handicap at Chester last month. Irish handler Jim Bolger has entered the unexposed Myrine, a 10-length winner over two miles at Wexford last month.

DFS Ladies Day gets underway at 2.00pm with the EBF crownhotel-bawtry.com Maiden Stakes (2.00pm), which has attracted an entry of 33 juveniles. The mile contest has proved to be a good pointer to future success at Doncaster with the two divisions in 2008 falling to subsequent Ladbrokes St Leger runner-up Kite Wood and The Miniver Rose, who claimed the 2009 DFS Park Hill Stakes.

Thursday’s most valuable race is the Weatherbys Insurance £300,000 2-Y-O Stakes (3.10pm) over an extended six furlongs. A bumper 57 two-year-olds remain engaged in this event, which offers prize money down to tenth place, including a trio from sales race specialist Richard Hannon, while the Richard Fahey-trained Wootton Bassett, unbeaten in three starts, could attempt a lucrative sales race double following his victory in the DBS Premier Yearling Stakes at York last month.

Other highlights on Thursday’s seven-race programme include the £40,000 EBF Carrie Red Fillies’ Nursery (4.20pm, 34 entries) and the £40,000 Listed Japan Racing Association Sceptre Stakes (4.55pm), a seven-furlong event for fillies and mares which has attracted 22 entries.

GROUND

The going at Doncaster remains Good to Firm, with watering taking place as necessary.