Burrows keen to see if Calendar Girl can maintain progression Owen Burrows is excited to see if Calendar Girl can continue her progression in what looks a strong renewal of the BetMGM Atalanta Stakes at Sandown. The Advertise filly won a valuable sales race at Doncaster and the Group Three Oh So Sharp Stakes at Newmarket at the backend of her juvenile campaign, but a setback in the spring delayed her return to action. However, she looked as good as ever when making a successful comeback in the Listed Dick Hern Stakes at Haydock three weeks ago and Burrows is hopeful she can continue in the same vein on Saturday. “It was very pleasing what she did at Haydock after an interrupted start to her season,” said the Lambourn handler. “This obviously looks the natural progression up. It looks strong enough mind, for a Group Three I thought it was very competitive, but she seems to have come out of Haydock very well. “She won a Doncaster race last year on good to soft, so I’m not too fearful of ground conditions and I’m looking forward to getting her back out again.” Calendar Girl is owned by Kennet Valley Syndicates and their racing manager, Sam Hoskins, said of her Haydock success: “It was a great training performance because she constantly had dirty scopes in the spring, but she had some good time in the paddock and we have been very patient. “She was a bit fresh and had a bit too much daylight so it was a really good effort to win a Listed race. We hope she will take a step forward, but if she can just run to the same level as at Haydock she should have a good chance. “Obviously it is a very good race but she ought to improve a bit for it, so we are cautiously optimistic.” A tilt at the Sun Chariot could be on Kon Tiki’s agenda if she can make it back-to-back Group Three victories for Jane Chapple-Hyam. The Night Of Thunder filly ran out a convincing winner of the Valiant Stakes at Ascot at the end of July and if she can follow up at Esher this weekend, she is set to follow in the hoofprints of Chapple-Hyam’s former stable star Saffron Beach, who completed the Atalanta-Sun Chariot double five years ago. “She has trained well since Ascot and hasn’t done anything wrong,” said the Suffolk trainer. “This is a prep race leading into the Sun Chariot. It looks like the track will ride on the slow side of good with the rain forecast, but she is up for that and she doesn’t mind soft ground. “Saturday will tell us whether she is up to Group One class, but I’m sure she is capable of doing that. Hopefully Saturday can confirm that feeling.” On ratings the standard is set by Sir Mark Prescott’s Moon Target, who takes the opposite journey from her third place in the Group One Prix Rothschild at Deauville behind Blue Bolt to the seemingly calmer waters of the Atalanta. Chris Richardson, racing manager for owners Cheveley Park, said: “We were thrilled with her performance at Deauville and it made sense to go to Sandown and see if we could go a couple of places better. “Obviously we probably wouldn’t want too much rain for her, I know there is rain forecast so we will have to see what happens. “She does very little between her races. She is one of those who doesn’t need a lot of training in between, but Sir Mark is very happy with how she came out of Deauville.” Moon Target is one of two Cheveley Park representatives alongside John and Thady Gosden’s So Regal, who makes her first competitive appearance since finishing second in Listed company at York’s Dante Festival in May. Other contenders include Ralph Beckett’s unbeaten filly Secret Of Life and Andrew Balding’s Pacific Mission, who was runner-up to Calendar Girl at Haydock.
