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| Staff Writer |
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Trainer Ed Crisford is confident that Vandeek will showcase his natural talent in the Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket. Crisford believes that a victory in the race would put Vandeek on the board as one of the top 2YO's in Europe.
Vandeek, who is trained at Gainsborough Stables less than two miles from Newmarket's Rowley Mile, secured a first Group One win for Crisford and his father Simon in the Prix Morny at Deauville, France, last time out.
The son of Havana Grey will now bid to double his tally of top-level victories in the six-furlong feature race. Although Vandeek is expected to face old adversaries along with some new rivals, Crisford is optimistic that the unbeaten Shaikh Khalid-owned colt can enhance his growing reputation.
Crisford said, “The Middle Park is a proper championship race and if he was able to win a Group One at Newmarket it would be huge - not just for us but for the owner and the horse himself. It would put him on the board as one of the top two-year-olds in Europe.
“It will be a proper race against proper horses and there will be some new horses coming in that we haven’t faced yet. It is going to be a very good race, but he has gone and won a Group One so he goes there with every chance.
“He is the first Group One winner that me and dad have had and he just has that natural talent. We’ve had some good older horses come through our hands like Century Dream, but Vandeek has that real quality as a two-year-old and that means he should be an exciting three-year-old.”
According to Crisford, Vandeek was not the commanding presence he is today when he arrived at their Hamilton Road base from the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up sale in April. However, since setting foot on the racetrack at Nottingham in July, he has continued to improve and impress.
Crisford said, “He was a breeze up horse, and he looked good doing his breeze. He posted a good time but when he came into the yard he was still very narrow and weak.
“He hadn’t filled his frame so we needed the time from April until June before we started pressing any buttons. When he came in he was like two boards slapped together, but he now looks stronger every time he gets to the track.
“He always showed up nicely on the gallops without doing anything that made you think ‘wow’. He fell out of the stalls at Nottingham and missed the break and to be honest a lot of horses wouldn’t overcome that on their first start, but he did it well in the end. When they are green you know there is a lot of room for improvement, and there was.”
Despite several of his main competitors dropping out of the race due to the soft ground, Vandeek's task was still made easier in the Group Two Richmond Stakes at Glorious Goodwood. However, according to Crisford, the performance still showcased the impressive level of talent they were working with.
He added, “The reason we went to the Richmond is that we knew he would go on the soft ground. We had an entry at Newmarket in a novice contest for him, but he was so well in himself and he looked a bit sharper in a gallop just before the race.
“His owner is very enthusiastic and ambitious and he likes a challenge so he said ‘let’s go for the Group Two’,” said Crisford.