Simon & Ed Crisford's superstar Vandeek is seeking more Group One glory this week as he is all sytems go for the Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket.
Seen just three times to date starting at Nottingham on good to soft ground he basically did everything wrong in the early part of the race being slowly away, going to his left and also running very green.
However, the further he went the more the penny dropped and when getting himself together he absolutely flew home to go from last to first in a matter of strides to win the Maiden comfortably.
Sent to Glorious Goodwood and upped into the Group 2 Richmond Stakes tackling soft ground for the first time, he made it back to back successes in taking style.
Last seen at Deauville in the Group One Prix Morny again on tricky conditions, he kept his unbeaten record going when getting up late to secure the victory by a head.
Vandeek wins the Prix Morny after a thrilling finish at @fgdeauville! @Atzenijockey | @gainsboroughHQ pic.twitter.com/u1qDLhF7R2
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) August 20, 2023
The Crisford team are now eyeing more Group One glory at Newmarket on Saturday in the Middle Park Stakes and they are looking forward to seeing him out on track again.
(Credit ATR) Ed 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.”