Roger Varian has had 36 runners in Ireland throughout his career and only one of them has been at Gowran. He’s about to double that tally on Wednesday as he sends one runner on the 863-mile round trip from his Newmarket base. This is a significant journey and connections will be hoping the horse can plunder the Listed prize. One thing is for sure, they won’t want to come back empty-handed. Check out our free tips page for daily content across British and Irish racing.
Sound Angela is the horse in question and she seems to have every chance of making the trip a successful one. Lightly raced for a four-year-old, this daughter of Muhaarar has won three of her seven starts so far. Her most impressive performance came at Newcastle in July and she absolutely bolted up on handicap debut over a mile. The form of that victory was boosted by the second who went on to win its next start.
She was thrown into a French Group 3 on her next start and she ran a solid race, finishing fourth. Varian’s filly does need to prove that a grass surface suits, as all three of her wins have come on the all-weather. Her third behind the impressive Laurel at Kempton on seasonal debut last month was a solid effort. The jockey reported that she raced too freely that day and therefore she may improve for the run, having gotten that freshness out of her system.
It’s highly unlikely that we’ve seen the best of her just yet and there could be plenty of improvement to come as a four-year-old. Roger Varian is a shrewd trainer and it would be no surprise if this turns out to be a brilliant bit of placement.
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