Cityscape rises above Charlton's hopes

The distant cathedral always has a decidedly somnolent aspect as it peers across the downs, but punters here have to be rather more vigilant. Last October, for instance, they were the first to witness the Oaks winner galloping in anger when Look Here beat no less a colt than the Derby fourth, Doctor Fremantle. So the sky may indeed be the limit for a colt named Cityscape, who careered nine lengths clear of a perfectly competent field of juveniles here yesterday.

Even Roger Charlton, that inveterate realist, drily acknowledged that Cityscape was an "exciting" prospect. He trains the Selkirk colt for Prince Khalid Abdulla, and had been taken aback when he managed to finish second on his debut at Newmarket. Charlton was again startled by the way Cityscape, having run very green early on, gathered his stride to rout a stablemate of Look Here, Such Optimism – herself a five-length winner on her first visit here last month.

"He went to Newmarket because he had been a bit of a baby at home, a bit colty, and I wanted to give him a run," the Beckhampton trainer said. "But he probably should have won. And I was surprised he won as easily as that today, it was a great performance. They went a good clip and it was a good, galloping test.

"Steve [Drowne] said he's still incredibly green, still very raw, and that he will have learned so much today. He's still big and weak, and I don't know if he'll have another run this season. A month ago he wasn't anything, and he isn't in the big races, but he's come to hand very quickly."

Though he relished the stiff mile and galloped like a stayer, Charlton has reservations about the Derby trip for Cityscape. Blue Square still introduced him to Epsom betting at 33-1.

Serious Attitude proved herself another promising juvenile in winning the next race, a Listed prize for fillies, albeit she is more professional at this stage. She had landed a gamble – unsurprisingly, in hindsight, with just 8st on her back – on her debut at Windsor and this time quickened decisively when a gap opened on the rail to beat her fellow favourite, Sneak Preview, three lengths.

Rae Guest, her trainer, has a sensitive touch with fillies and she is now 33-1 with the sponsors for the Stan James 1,000 Guineas. "When they're a Listed winner on their second run, and if they keep going, you don't know, do you?" he mused. "She's not a typical Mtoto, she has plenty of speed, but doesn't look like a sprinter and looks like she will get farther."

She will probably go next for one of the Tattersalls sales races at Newmarket, and cash, not kudos, was also on the mind of Richard Hannon after Fanditha turned over the odds-on favourite for one of the maidens. The season's leading British trainer described her as "a slow learner" who would make improvement in the big Goffs race for fillies, at the Curragh this month.

Hannon's success has ensured a prolific campaign for Richard Hughes, who has ridden 98 winners in his first season since losing the Abdulla retainer. Unfortunately a series of interference offences has prompted the British Horseracing Authority to give him an 11-day ban, starting next week, on the St Leger eve.

Look Here and Doctor Fremantle remain borderline contenders for the final Classic after lay-offs. But doubts about the field for tomorrow's big race, the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown, proved redundant when Duke Of Marmalade was duly declared for his second showdown in a fortnight with the Derby winner, New Approach.

These two tower above the rest of the field, Duke Of Marmalade being available at evens and New Approach 6-4 with the Tote and Coral. Multidimensional is the sole British challenger, but Pat Flynn put it well yesterday when asked why he was bothering to saddle the rank outsider, She's Our Mark. "There's Duke Of Marmalade and New Approach," he said. "But they have four legs and our filly has four legs, so we will see."

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