They're back! Newbury's 2018 dead-heaters to face each other again in the course's last Flat card of the season
Rob Hornby and Jim Crowley sharing the 2018 trophyYoung Rascal and Morando, who dead-heated in the Teddington RBL Poppy Appeal Stakes 12 monthsago, face each other for the first time since that meeting in a
rematch for the Group 3 prize atNewbury on Saturday (October 26) - the race once known as the St Simon Stakes.
They were inseparable as they crossed the line in 2018, four and a half lengths clearof the third - Morando ridden by Rob Hornby & Young Rascal by Jim Crowley. This weekend
theyboth have the chance to become only the second horse to win the contest twice.
October 2018: Morando (left) and Young Rascal toughing it out
Young Rascal, trained by William Haggas, has been gelded since he last ran in May, while Morando,from the Kingsclere stable of Andrew Balding, arrives off the back
of an emphatic victory ina Group 3 race at Ascot. They are aiming to emulate Jupiter Island, who was successful in1983 and 1986.
The two horses are among a six-strong field for one of the feature races of Worthington’s‘Remember Together’ Family Raceday, the final Flat meeting of 2019 season at Newbury.
Young Rascal has won three of his four starts at Newbury, losing his unbeaten record whenonly fifth behind Marmelo at the track in April. Haggas said: “He didn’t show
his form at Newbury in the spring and we thought he misbehavedthe second time in the Jockey Club Stakes so we gelded him and gave him the summer off."
“We are bringing him back now and if all goes nicely and we get an invitation to Hong Kong hewill go there afterwards. Then he will go to Sydney in April. His season is
back to front. It looks like a tough race on Saturday because Morando is in the form of his life even atthe age of six.”
Morando - owned by King Power Racing - has thrived in soft ground and in those conditionspulled six lengths clear of Sextant at Ascot last time. Balding said: “Morando
seems in good form.He’s had a great season and obviously won the race last year. Hopefully he will run well again.”
Haggas also saddles Surf Dancer - winner of his last two races - in the day’s other Group 3 race, theCANCOM Stakes, registered as the Horris Hill Stakes. The field of ten
is headed by Kinross,who entered Classic calculations when winning on debut by eight lengths.
Friday’s meeting (October 25) features the third running of the £50,000 British European Fund ConditionsStakes in which the Haggas-trained Hamish bids for hat-trick after impressive
wins at Haydockand York.Hamish’s half-brother Convict, also owned by the trainer’s father Brian, won at Newmarket onWednesday.
Haggas is delighted with this recent addition to Newbury's calendar: “It’s fantastic that the powersthat be have concentrated on the stayers because people who breed stayers
like my fatherreap the benefit.”
“Here is a race that is a new race. It has Hamish, the winner of the Melrose Stakes, and Trueshan,the winner of the Old Rowley Cup. Hamish will run and then we will decide
whether he is agenuine Cup horse or where he stands. He is rated 109 now so he will have to run in somethingdecent. He is a pretty useful horse.”
You can book tickets for Newbury's two-day meeting here. Photos courtesy Newbury Racecourse.