Chaldean rallies for Acomb triumph

Two-year-old Frankel colt Chaldean continued on an upward trajectory with a game victory in yesterday's Gr.3 Acomb Stakes at York.

Taken from the Thoroughbred Daily News, 18th August 2022, by Sean Cronin:

The 7-2 second favourite settled into a comfortable rhythm in second after the early exchanges and inched to the front at halfway. Coming under pressure approaching the quarter-mile marker, he was far from undone when headed by Indestructible just inside the furlong pole and rallied bravely in the closing stages to deny that Irish raider by a half-length. Ed Bethell-trainee Oviedo was best of the rest and finished three and a quarter lengths further adrift in third. Godolphin's TDN Rising Star and 5-2 favourite Local Dynasty was unable to land a telling blow and finished a never-nearer fifth.

"He's a lovely horse and Andrew [Balding] has been very happy with him since he joined him in February," said racing manager Barry Mahon. "He's very straightforward, he's done it well and he was gutsy. Ryan [Moore] feels like he'll step up to a mile on his next start, which is good, so we'll get him home and see what's available and make a plan from there. He's quite a young horse, being a middle-of-May foal, and I'd imagine he has quite a bit more developing and growing to do, so we won't over-race him this year."

He continued: "Quite rarely, he's a purchase by Juddmonte. He cost 550,000 guineas and in fairness to the [Abdullah] family, they put down their money for him as foal and he's repaying them now. We'd buy less than 10 horses a year, so it's a very small percentage of our business, but when we see something that looks nice and can enhance our stable, the family are keen to add to it. He'll have no problem staying a mile and who knows, he could even get a little bit further next year. We'll see how the rest of the year develops."

He added: "It's 10 years since Frankel won the Juddmonte International here and he's leaving his mark with every week that goes by. It's very special and it's lovely to have one winning by him in the Juddmonte colours."