DAY 2 THURSDAY 4.10pm

Galtres Stakes (Listed)

1m4f

A La Prochaine 13th

What the jockeys said

James Doyle

James Doyle

A La Prochaine

0:00 0:00

Race report

Drawn on the inside, A La Prochaine was smartly away and positioned on the rail as James Doyle kept a hold of her as he sought some cover, which he was able to find eventually as several runners filtered across in front of her. She appeared to jump the road crossing but was relaxed once settled in behind horses, sitting in fouth place as the field turned for home. The tempo increased from half a mile out as the runners fanned across the track and A La Prochaine found herself first squeezed out by the coming together of Club Class and Vauntingly, then bumped by the weakening Club Class. Thereafter, Doyle took the sensible decision to ease her down and canter home. Prizeland competed a treble on the day for trainer Andrew Balding, winning by more than three lengths.

Preview

If Legacy Link – second in the G1 Oaks at Epsom in June – runs well in the Yorkshire Oaks, it could be a tip for our filly in this, a Listed race over exactly the same distance and for exactly the same sort of staying filly or mare: A La Prochaine ran fourth in the Oaks, keeping on extremely well for so inexperienced a racehorse. She was running in a G1 in just her third career start that day. Held back for softer autumn conditions since that wet June afternoon, things could be perfectly in her favour today. The expanses of York are also likely to suit her long stride far better than the tight turns of Chester and Epsom where she has run the past twice. The Galtres – pronounced ‘gal-trees’ and named after a nearby forest – carries a prefix honouring Frankel’s trainer Sir Henry Cecil, who won this race four times.