Quest For Stars earns Leopardstown ticket with Salisbury strike

Charlie Appleby has a Group One target at Leopardstown in mind for Quest For Stars after he continued his rise through the ranks with a battling victory in the British Stallion Studs EBF Stonehenge Stakes at Salisbury.

The Sea The Stars colt upstaged a better-fancied stablemate when making a winning at Doncaster in early July before again displaying a willing attitude to double his tally at Sandown a fortnight ago.

With Connor Planas retaining the ride in search of a first Listed success, Quest For Stars (11-4) set out to make all the running and while he was joined and briefly passed by the strong-travelling 8-11 favourite Scommessa Sicura, he dug deep in the final half-furlong to get back up and prevail by a neck.

Appleby admitted his juvenile’s progression has taken him by surprise, but he is now ready to give him his chance at the highest level in the newly-upgraded Golden Fleece Stakes at the Irish Champions Festival, a race that has been won by Derby winners Australia (2013) and Auguste Rodin (2022) and last season went to this year’s Irish Derby hero Benvenuto Cellini.

“He keeps doing it. Obviously he was an outsider when he broke his maiden and followed it up at Sandown and he’s gone and done the same again,” Appleby told the Press Association.

“He’s tough, he stays well and this race is a win and you’re in for the Golden Fleece. When I say it’s a race we had pencilled in for him, he’s not a horse that excites you too much at home, but you can’t fault what he’s done on the track.

“It’s a race we’ll very much look towards and see how he comes out of this and go from there, but I’m very pleased for him to go and win the race today like that and very pleased for Connor. He’s done a lot of work with him and knows him, so it’s a good team effort.”

Planas told Racing TV: “I’m very happy, I had my first winner here as an apprentice, so to come back here and have my first stakes winner, I can’t thank Charlie enough for keeping me on him.

“Twelve months ago I was close to hanging my boots up. It was kind of getting a bit quiet, I was struggling to get rides and I bumped into Kieren Fallon and he said ‘come and ride out for Charlie, get a good wage and you never know he might stick you up’.

“I had my first ride for him at Kempton on Palladas (in January), he went and won, he kept supporting me from there and I haven’t really looked back since.

“I was struggling to get rides, and getting limited rides it’s then hard to get winners. I was at Leicester Sunday and there were 23 jockeys there and 18 with one ride. It’s very hard, but without Charlie I wouldn’t be here.”

Ralph Beckett’s On Message was a 14-1 winner of the other Listed race on the card, the British Stallion Studs EBF Upavon Fillies’ Stakes.

Ed Walker’s Musidora Stakes runner-up and French Oaks seventh Felicitas was a 13-8 joint-favourite alongside the lightly-raced dual winner Miss Scott, but they had to make do with third and second place respectively as On Message claimed victory by a length under Hector Crouch.