Scratched from last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1), the brilliant Bradsell is on course to try again at Del Mar after landing Friday’s “Win and You’re In” Nunthorpe (G1) at York. The Archie Watson trainee had too much speed for hot favorite Asfoora, who stayed on mildly in fourth, and her archrival Big Evs, who folded to eighth.
Bradsell was well backed himself as the second choice in the world pool, paying $7.80, in this second start back from a career-threatening injury. Sidelined in February when he was gearing up for a Dubai venture, the Victorious Racing color-bearer returned triumphant in the Aug. 4 Prix du Cercle at Deauville.
Although that was just a listed stakes, Bradsell showed that he was ready to make an impact once more at the top level. During his sophomore campaign in 2023, he toppled the mighty Highfield Princess in the King’s Stand (now the King Charles III) (G1) at Royal Ascot and placed a commendable third in the Nunthorpe.
Bradsell enjoyed a better setup in Friday’s renewal of the five-furlong dash. Drawn in post 3, he was near Czech speedball Ponntos, who blazed to the fore on the far-side rail. Bradsell was perfectly positioned in a tracking second by regular rider Hollie Doyle, while Big Evs appeared to be making harder work of keeping up on the other side of the course.
When Ponntos began to labor, Bradsell was traveling so effortlessly that he struck the front before Doyle had asked him. The bay opened up on cue and remained firmly in control in :57.34 on the good to firm course.
A battle for the minor placings emerged in his wake. Believing rallied out wide to trim the winner’s margin to three-quarters of a length, edging sophomore Starlust and Asfoora.
Believing was continuing her fine series of performances in the division. Fourth in both of Royal Ascot’s marquee sprints, the King Charles III and Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee (G1), she was coming off a third to Big Evs and Asfoora in the King George (G2) at Glorious Goodwood. In between, Believing plundered the Sapphire (G2) at the Curragh, and George Boughey’s consistent filly is likely to make another raid on Ireland for the Flying Five (G1).
The Australian mare Asfoora, who captured the “Win and You’re In” King Charles III before her near-miss at Goodwood, didn’t pick up with her usual verve here. Trainer Henry Dwyer commented that she might be in a declining form cycle at this point.
As a result, Asfoora’s chances of using her Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint ticket are diminishing. If she runs again in the Northern Hemisphere, Dwyer mentioned the Flying Five as the possible option.
Ponntos crossed the wire fifth, followed by Washington Heights, Makarova, Big Evs, Azure Blue, Frost at Dawn, So Majestic, and Clarendon House, who lost all chance by missing the break. Defending champion Live in the Dream was scratched with a bruised foot, and Regional was another key absentee.
Big Evs was disappointing in eighth, even allowing for the unfavorable draw in post 14. But there’s precedent for him to bounce back. The Mick Appleby pupil also ran poorly in this race a year ago, admittedly as a two-year-old. At that time, Appleby believed that Big Evs regressed on a 23-day turnaround from a tough victory at Glorious Goodwood.
Note that Big Evs was making a similar turnaround here, 21 days after another narrow decision at the same festival. Perhaps that was a factor Friday as well, or maybe the Nunthorpe just isn’t his race.
If past is prologue, it’s worth remembering that Big Evs promptly rebounded from his 2023 Nunthorpe debacle. He won his final two outings of the year, including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1). Barring any setbacks, Big Evs has plenty of time to reassert himself as a player in the Turf Sprint at Del Mar.
Hopefully Bradsell will stay healthy for his Breeders’ Cup bid. This is the second time in his career that he’s had to launch a comeback. After winning the 2022 Coventry (G2) as a juvenile, Bradsell was injured when fourth in the Phoenix (G1). He wasn’t seen again until the spring of 2023, placing third in the Commonwealth Cup Trial (G3) and Sandy Lane (G2) before upsetting the King’s Stand at 14-1. His season ended on an anticlimactic note with a seventh in the Flying Five and his fruitless trip to Santa Anita.
The best performer sired by the Showcasing stallion Tasleet, Bradsell is out of the stakes-winning Archipenko mare Russian Punch. No other black type appears under the first four dams, but further back, he traces to the same female line as champion Panaslipper and influential matron Feevagh, the 1954 Yorkshire Oaks winner.
