Engels on a Gimcrack recovery mission

David Brown's talented juvenile Frederick Engels is set to take his place in the line-up for the Group 2 Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Gimcrack Stakes on the third day of the York Ebor Meeting 2011 on August 19, and will be hoping for better luck than came his way when down the field in the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh last week.

Already established as amongst the best of his generation seen out so far this term, the son of Iceman ran second to live Nunthorpe Stakes candidate Bapak Chinta on debut at Hamilton in May before chasing home another seriously talented performer Shumoos at Haydock a fortnight later.

Clearly those two initial efforts had stood him in good stead as on his third outing Brown's youngster bolted in by five-lengths at Musselburgh, a win that saw him sent off the 9/4 favourite in a field of 24 for the listed Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot. Always travelling strongly Frederick Engels hit the front inside the final furlong before running on powerfully to defeat Stonefield Flyer by over two lengths.

Stepped up to Group 2 company on his next outing the upwardly mobile northern juvenile then proved too strong for the talented Roman Soldier (subsequently sold to race in the US), in the TNTJuly Stakes at Newmarket last month and was confidently expected to run a big race in Ireland. Things didn't go his way though as Johnny Murtagh's mount found lots of trouble in running and was badly hampered at a vital stage of the contest eventually won by La Collina.

Granted a better passage on the Knavesmire on Friday there are good reasons for believing that Frederick Engels will give a very good account of himself in the Gimcrack as he bids to keep the prize in the north for his popular connections.

Meanwhile, followers of the Paul Nicholls Betfair column will be keenly anticipating the new National Hunt season.