Prescott has Prestige plans for exciting Moon Target

3 days ago

'All being well she will run in the Prestige,' said Prescott. 'I managed to get Alpinista beat in the Prestige though, which seemed like the end of the world at the time but turned all right in the end.
Far too good!
Moon Target remains unbeaten with a facile display in the opener at @GTYarmouthRaces, quickening clear in the style of a good filly!@HeathHouseNkt | @Luke_Morris88 pic.twitter.com/zheFxCiPcg
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) August 3, 2025
'It is amazing when you look back now and think how on earth did that get beat there, but she did.
'You don't want to be disparaging, but I don't suppose they were world-beaters Moon Target beat at Yarmouth. However, she did it well didn't she and she appears to be very relaxed which is such a great help.'
It has been hard not to be impressed by Moon Target's progress to date, as she built on the taking nature of her debut win at Newmarket by scoring by an even wider margin in her second start.
Asked at what point he knew he had a smart horse on his hands, Prescott said: 'Not until I worked her, I liked her much much more once I worked her as she always went very very well without apparently doing anything.
'Initially I thought the others must be very bad because of the way she just did it, so she's been interesting and I think she caught everybody by surprise when it turned out at home she could go.'
Sir Mark Prescott is still at the top of his game (Mike Egerton/PA)
With one Prestige Stakes for Moon Target's owners Cheveley Park Stud banked almost 30 years ago, the daughter of Cracksman's rise to prominence gives Prescott the chance to continue his long association with the leading owner-breeder operation.
He added: 'I've been a while without one for Cheveley and I had a marvellous run for them with Pivotal, Red Camellia who actually won the Prestige, and Hooray, who often gets forgotten and was champion two-year-old filly.'
Moon Target could also help Prescott in one of the few frontiers he has yet to conquer, with a Classic victory on home soil towards the top of his wish list for his remaining years in the training ranks.
Currently as short as 16-1 for next year's 1000 Guineas and 20-1 for the Oaks, Moon Target is proving a huge asset to ensuring the Heath House master's enthusiasm still burns brightly and could bring dreams of glory in next season's biggest races into range if excelling on the Sussex Downs.
'I've never trained a winner of the Cesarewitch and I've never trained a Classic winner in Britain, they're the things that need doing,' continued Prescott.
'I'm still motivated and if you are a trainer the goals remains the same all the time, as long as you retain your enthusiasm and your marbles. If anything it becomes more important as you know you are running out of time.
'Horses like Moon Target are what keeps everyone going and she looks good at the moment and we've got to hope everything goes right with her, but you can't be disappointed so far.'
While Moon Target has already advertised her talent, waiting in the wings at the foot of Warren Hill and still to make her debut is the latest graduate from one of Prescott's most successful lineages, Alpinara.
A sister to Alpinista and also from the family of multiple Group One-winner Albanova – as well as that one's own sister, the dual Champion Stakes winner Alborada – she cost Kia Joorabchian 2.5million guineas at Tattersall's prestigious Book One sale last autumn.
A bay, unlike her illustrious grey sibling who gave the Newmarket veteran one of his finest hours in Paris three years ago, Alpinara is steadily building up to her first racecourse appearance, envisaged to sport the Amo Racing silks for the first time in the autumn.
Alpinista's sister is still to make her debut
'She is very interesting because at the sales everyone was asking does she look like Alpinista and the answer was not at all, completely different,' explained Prescott.
'She's better looking in fact, but nothing like Alpinista and more like Albanova who was the grandmother of Alpinista.
'Alpinista won as a two-year-old at Epsom against colts in July, yet this one looks like she will be September into October really.
'She seems to go well and has really come to life recently. We turned her out for three months after we broke her in and she's been fine, but who knows at this stage.'

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Lambourn still ‘definitely' in the Voltigeur mix, says O'Brien

Rhyl Journal

5 hours ago

Rhyl Journal

Lambourn still ‘definitely' in the Voltigeur mix, says O'Brien

The Australia colt emulated his sire by striking Classic gold at Epsom and the Curragh in June and is now ready to step up his preparations for a major autumn target. For a long time another Classic bid in the St Leger at Doncaster seemed likely, but with stablemate Scandinavia throwing his hat into that particular ring with victory in the Goodwood Cup, Lambourn may instead be bound for Paris and a tilt at the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Lambourn digs deep in the closing stages to become a dual Derby winner for @Ballydoyle Ryan Moore | Aidan O'Brien — The Curragh Racecourse (@curraghrace) June 29, 2025 When asked whether Lambourn could step back to Group Two level on the Knavesmire, O'Brien told Sky Sports Racing: 'He could, we've a lot of horses kind of ready for the Voltigeur, some are just about ready and some are probably not going to make it. 'Lambourn definitely could. We'll see how he is and his next target then can be either the Leger or the Arc. I think the lads are thinking Scandinavia is going to be trained for the Leger now – if the ground was nice he would go there and Lambourn wouldn't go there, but if it was the other way Lambourn would go there. 'Lambourn probably needs a race between now and the Leger or the Arc and it (Great Voltigeur) is a race that could suit him. 'He's a straightforward, honest, no-nonsense horse. He does what he has to do and doesn't do any more.' Another Ballydoyle inmate with Arc aspirations is last year's third Los Angeles, who made an excellent start to his campaign with successive wins at the Curragh but could finish only fifth as a hot favourite for the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot. Having since enjoyed a mid-season break, he is set to return to competitive action in the Newbridge Silverware Royal Whip Stakes at the Curragh on Saturday. 'We were thinking he could go to the Royal Whip and go and improve a lot,' O'Brien added. 'He's had a break since Ascot and we were thinking if he went to the Curragh this weekend he could go to the Prix Foy as an Arc trial or he could go to the Irish Champion Stakes as an Arc trial. 'All those things are open, but he's just starting back and he'll be running with no pressure win, lose or draw (this weekend). We'd just like to get a run into him to get him ready for the autumn. 'The Arc has been his target all the time. We tightened him up a bit too much in the Prince of Wales's Stakes and because of that he just had to have a little rest. He's come back happy, but will progress a lot before the Arc.' O'Brien also had news of Henri Matisse, last seen finishing third in the Sussex Stakes behind shock 150-1 winner Qirat. O'Brien said: 'He'll go probably for the Prix du Moulin. Goodwood was a little bit of a disaster – it was really only a four-furlong dash in the second half of the race. 'It was one of those races that is hard to work out, but we were very happy with the run, Ryan (Moore) was very happy with him and we think he's still progressing. 'We haven't seen the best of him yet, we think.'