Thursday 22nd April 2010
Johnston's duo for StanJames.com Jockey Club Stakes
Mark Johnston plans to be double-handed in the £100,000 Group 2 StanJames.com Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday, 1st May, with Jukebox Jury and Drill Sergeant among the 23 entries for the mile and a half contest.
Jukebox Jury developed into a top-class performer last term, clinching victory in the Group 1 Preis Von Europa at Cologne in September before finishing a close second in the Grade 1 Canadian International, but failed to fire on his seasonal reappearance when 15th behind Dar Re Mi in the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan on 27th March.
The Middleham trainer revealed this morning: “Both horses are fine and the plan at this stage is take them to Newmarket for the StanJames.com Jockey Club Stakes. Drill Sergeant will run before then at Ripon this weekend.”
Drill Sergeant, winner of the Duke of Edinburgh Handicap at Royal Ascot and placed at Group Two level last term, is set to contest a mile and a half conditions event at the Yorkshire track on Saturday in preparation for the StanJames.com Jockey Club Stakes.
Johnston continued: “Jukebox Jury will run principally as a preparation for the Coronation Cup at Epsom because we felt that last year he took two or three runs to come to his best and we were clearly disappointed with his first run this year in Dubai.
“There was no physical reason for the way he ran at Meydan and that is why we have looked back at 2009 - he ran very badly first time last year as well, so possibly it is not sensible to give him such a big gap to the Coronation Cup, hence we will run him in the Jockey Club Stakes.”
The high-class entry for the StanJames.com Jockey Club Stakes also includes the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Group 1 winner Spanish Moon, third in the Dubai Sheema Classic on his latest start.
Stoute has also engaged Harbinger, who saw off the Henry Cecil-trained Manifest to win the Group 3 John Porter Stakes at Newbury on April 17. Cecil’s trio of entries also includes Group Two King Edward VII Stakes winner Father Time.
Luca Cumani has entered Group 1 Melbourne Cup runner-up Purple Moon, while German trainer Jens Hirschberger has the option of running dual Group 1 victor Getaway, winner of the race in 2008 when trained by Andre Fabre.
The John Dunlop-trained Akmal landed the Group 3 Jockey Club Cup over two miles at Newmarket last season, while Godolphin has engaged the Mahmood Al Zarooni-trained Group 1 winner Eastern Anthem and the Saeed bin Suroor-trained Once More Dubai.
