Palmer considering Deauville or Newmarket for Fitzella
The daughter of Too Darn Hot broke her maiden at Haydock and was not disgraced in the Albany Stakes at the Royal meeting when fourth behind Karl Burke's smart Venetian Sun.
But she came out on top on her return to the Berkshire circuit when beating Staya by a length and Palmer is now plotting where to send her next before a trip to the Breeders' Cup.
The Malpas-based handler said: 'We were very pleased with that. She seems to have come out of it in very good order. 'She's already had four starts. It's a question of how many more times do we want to run her this season. She's kind of grown and changed all year and I think she is a filly with a future, I don't think she is just a two-year-old.
'In my mind there will probably be no more than two more goes this year. She is potentially a filly for the Breeders' Cup, so that possibly means just one more European run. We want to do everything we can to make sure that's a winning European run before we go to California.
'In my head I thought maybe the Prix du Calvados (at Deauville on August 24), which is where Simmering went last year after winning the Princess Margaret and I thought that looked quite a nice fit.
'Predicting and reading the ground in France is tricky and she does want top of the ground, but it's very hot in August in Deauville and it dries out very quickly being by the beach and by the river and we'll just have to be on weather watch.
'If that didn't work I thought probably the Rockfel (at Newmarket on September 26) would be an obvious target, it'll be another month later but the Cambridgeshire meeting tends to throw up quite quick ground, still being relatively early.
'She is in the Moyglare as well. But the Moyglare being that jump to Group One company might be the hardest way to keep her unbeaten, to make sure her next run is a winning one. 'Any Group winning two-year-old from this point of the season onwards, you're thinking about the Guineas. There's a lot of water to throw under the bridge between now and then but that's what we'd like her to be.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Belfast Telegraph
an hour ago
- Belfast Telegraph
It's unfair to enforce seasonal change and play during summer when most of the Irish League is part-time: Chris Shields
Linfield warrior Chris Shields has argued it would be unfair and wrong to enforce summer football on part-time Irish League players. Speaking during Linfield's European odyssey in the summer of 2025, Shields has reiterated his caution about any change to the Premiership fixtures calendar.
Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
Hibs braced for hostile 'Gravediggers' as David Gray explains Thibault Klidje situation
Place in Conference League playoff at stake Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Rip away all the noise and nonsense, the sound and fury that make European competition so reliably fascinating for those with a dog in the fight, and there is still a game of football to be played. Hibs will need to remember that as they take to the field in front of 30,000 roaring Serbs at the Partizan Stadion on Thursday night. Against a team whose supporters revel in the nickname of 'The Gravediggers', David Gray's men must not allow themselves to be buried under the avalanche of animosity likely to come tumbling down from the stands here. They have to impose their own game upon a young Partizan side still developing as a European force. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad At stake is a place in the UEFA Conference League play-offs where qualification for the league phase will be up for grabs. Something Hibs thought was already in their possession not so long ago, only for Aberdeen to rip that prize from their grasp courtesy of an odds-defying Scottish Cup win over Celtic. Hibs expect a hostile reception from Partizan Belgrade fans on Thursday night. (Photo by) | Getty Images Partizan, knocked out of the Europa League on penalties by Larnaca but handsome Conference League conquerors of Ukrainian wanders Oleksandriya last time out, represent a formidable enough challenge. But not the most fearsome opposition ever laid before a Scottish club at this stage of qualification. 'Firstly, you expect it to be quite a hostile environment, one that the players maybe haven't experienced before,' said Hibs manager Gray, whose team took Midtjylland deep into extra time at Easter Road before suffering their own Europa League exit last week, the former club captain adding: 'Some of them might have, but going over there, it's a different environment, it's a bit hostile and from what I've seen, a very intense, aggressive nature. 'So discipline is going to be a big thing as well from our players in making sure we do things properly. It's another brilliant test against a top side and we know we need to be at our very best. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It's no different from the Midtjylland test, which was a difficult one, but we need to take confidence from that. I say to the players all the time, you need to believe you can go over there and get a result, and if they were doubting or weren't fully believing before the first leg over in Denmark, they certainly were when they came home, which shows the level of performance and the level of quality we've got as well.' Partizan are aware of the threat posed by Hibs striker Kieron Bowie, whose double secured a 2-0 win over Dundee on Sunday. (Photo by Mark Scates / SNS Group) | SNS Group Hibs certainly boast top-line quality in their starting XI, with Partizan boss Srdjan Blagojevic singling out stand-in skipper Martin Boyle as the one to watch. Although, among the Belgrade media corps attending the MD-1 event at the Partizan Stadion yesterday, the name of Kieron Bowie was also given a frequent airing; it's impossible to sneak that sort of bruising talent under the radar against even the most lax opposition. And Partizan are no slouches. As for the options available to Gray as the game goes on, well, there is some strength in depth. Even if it will take a while for latest signing Grant Hanley to get up to speed. Record signing situation explained On that subject, might Hibs finally get a proper look at record signing Thibault Klidje? Having cost the Easter Road club over £1 million, there's a natural clamour to see what the Togolese international striker has to offer. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Gray is prone to caution on that subject, however, stressing: "Yeah, I understand that as soon as you see the price, people talk about getting him in the team. But the boys are obviously doing well, and I don't want to push him either. 'The expectation is one thing, but he needs to settle. He needs to get used to me and the way we're working and get used to the intensity, because it's a different way of playing. "I've noticed he's really settled around the group now, which is pleasing. Coming to a foreign country, the players have made him feel really welcome, which is great. He's getting used to my accent slightly, which is probably good for him as well, and he's got his own place now. "He's starting to settle a lot quicker, and I'm sure we'll see a lot of improvement from him pretty quickly. But I'm not putting too much pressure on him right now. We're just going to make sure that we keep progressing when we can.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Hibs fans have seen little of record summer signing Thibault Klidje thus far. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group) | SNS Group Hibs really rattled Midtjylland in the opening exchanges of their first leg at the tidy-but-tame MCH Arena, attacking with intent and taking an early lead through Jamie McGrath's cheeky free-kick. But, of course, that desire to really test opponents, not the worst tactic if Hibs are to put the Gravediggers in a sombre mood from the off, only works if you've got the defensive strength to avoid conceding a crazy number of chances at the other end. "Yeah, I think we've demonstrated that a few times now,' said Gray. 'The defensive organisation needs to be there. That's the most important side to it. 'We'll always have players who can score goals. And defence is not always the back five or the back three. The defence starts right at the very front. 'I think we saw that against Dundee at the weekend. The front two, Martin Boyle and Kieron Bowie, really worked hard with Junior Hoilett in behind them. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'The effort that goes into that, the organisation behind the ball, it's something that we do work a lot on. It's a massive part of the game because tactically, the players are really switched on nowadays, at every level. "We need to be ready for that, even more so in Europe. It's a bit of an unknown because you don't watch these teams week in, week out. "But the hard work goes in from our point of view to make sure we educate the players to know exactly what the challenge is and then put a game plan in place that we feel gives us the best chance to win the game.
Scotsman
3 hours ago
- Scotsman
Inside Dundee United's memorable European trip of 28 years ago as milestones up for grabs in Vienna
I was there for both legs of thumping win over Andorrans Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Of all the ties involving Scottish clubs this week, one in particular sticks out. Rapid Vienna versus Dundee United sets the pulse racing, evoking memories of the night the great penalty innovator Antonin Panenka graced the Tannadice turf (along with Hans Krankl) but could not stop Jim McLean's side progressing to the last four of the European Cup. 'It was the fulfilment of another impossible dream for the club that has dragged itself forward in the past decade,' wrote Wallace Moore in the next morning's Daily Record. Sweeter still, it meant emulating Dundee's achievement of 21 years earlier. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad United are returning on Thursday to Vienna, where Derek Stark slammed home a priceless away goal in March 1984. They have been emboldened by last week's long overdue aggregate victory over Luxembourg's UNA Strassen. While this success hardly seemed like news to stop the traffic, there was surprise from many – manager Jim Goodwin among them – when it was noted that it was in fact United's first victory in a European tie since 1997. It was not news to me, however. I was there for both legs of the thumping aggregate win over Club Esportiu Principat of Andorra. Derek Stark was on target the last time Dundee United travelled to face Rapid Vienna en route to reaching the European Cup semi-finals. | SNS Group What has been surprising to discover is that United have not progressed through successive rounds of European competition since that never-to-be-forgotten run to reach the Uefa Cup final in 1987, when the likes of Borussia Moenchengladbach and Barcelona were put to the sword. Maybe not as memorably, but nearly as impressively, very decent opposition in the shape of Lens, Hadjuk Split and Universitatea Craiova were also taken care of. So while playing for a place in the semi-finals of Europe's premier club competition is now a pipe dream for both United and Rapid Vienna, there's still much at stake in this tie, with the winners rewarded with a Conference League play-off round berth. Additionally, a victory in the rebuilt Weststadion in the Hutteldorf district of Vienna would represent a very significant milestone for United. It would stand as their 50th victory in Europe stretching all the way back to that celebrated maiden win in 1966 against the team now firmly installed as their patsies: Barcelona. Modern times have not been so storied, with aggregate wins over the likes of Glentoran, Coleraine and Fimleikafelag Hafnarfjordur of Iceland interspersed with painful KOs delivered by the Tatran Presovs and MyPa-47s of the world. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Fans of Rapid Vienna, who host Dundee United in the first leg of the UEFA Conference League third qualifying round on Thursday, hold up their scarves in support of their team at the Weststadion. (Photo by) | Getty Images Goals galore and a recognisable referee The games against Principat were, however, a lot of fun. The first leg in Andorra – 23 July, 1997 - was particularly memorable for this writer since it was my first European trip for The Scotsman and involved taking a charter flight from Dundee airport with Tommy McLean's team to Toulouse. We were then decanted into a bus for a nausea-inducing ride through the Pyrenees to Andorra. However far they had fallen from the days the previous decade when they were jousting with giants, if a soothsayer had told anyone on that trip that United, recent European aristocrats, would not win another European tie for almost thirty – yes, thirty – years, well, it would have called for another round of (stiff) drinks for their fans. The tiny principality proved a hospitable place for the 100 or so supporters who made the trip. The generosity extended to United, who helped themselves to eight goals (Robbie Winters 4, Gary McSwegan 3 and Lars Zetterlund). Re-reading my report of the match, it ought to have been more. Erik Pedersen's penalty was saved by overworked 'keeper Rui de Castro. It was awarded by referee Pierluigi Collina. Whatever became of him? The Andorran leg was the first leg so the job was only, er, half done. The second leg was of course academic although United had a record aggregate victory in their sights. An 11-0 win would have done it, bettering Rangers' 18-0 aggregate win over Valetta in 1983, which still stands as the record for a Scottish club. United 'only' hit another nine to book an appointment with Turkish side Trabzonspor from the Black Sea port city of Trabzon (interestingly, Rapid Vienna were potential opponents when the draw was made). Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad That, too, was a strange but memorable trip. Popular United 'keeper Sieb Dykstra complained about being distracted by the call for prayers from the mosque behind his goal at Trabzonspor's winner. Jim Goodwin is the first Dundee United manager since Tommy McLean in 1997 to win a European tie. (Photo by Marcel Bonte / SNS Group) | SNS Group What became of Principat? But that's another story. We're recalling the time Dundee United beat a team from Andorra whose HQ appeared to be a restaurant. A quick internet search suggests Charlie's restaurant, which was themed on Charlie Chaplin obviously and sponsored the team, has since closed. This also appeared to have been the fate of the club. Wikipedia claims Principat folded in 2015, which was sad news given the memories of the 1997 tie and their European pedigree that extended beyond debut games against Dundee United to involve ties against Ferencvaros (1-14 – a goal!) and Viking of Iceland (0-18). However, an email address found on the Andorran FA website suggested the club still existed in some form, and so it proved. They had re-formed as a futsal team, the small-sided, indoor version of football, so unlikely to re-appear on the European stage anytime soon, but still performing a very admirable function. A phone number was produced. I learned from an official that not only does the name survive, the actual club is set to return to competitive 11-aside football. Principat will play in the second tier of the Andorran league, with their opening game scheduled for as soon as next month in La Massana. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
