Last year’s Gimcrack Stakes winner and G1 Middle Park second, Blue Point (Shamardal), kicked off his 2017 season in tremendous fashion on 3 May with a convincing victory in the G3 Pavilion Stakes, run over six furlongs at Ascot.
Racing down the centre of the track and just off the pace under William Buick, Blue Point was always travelling well and once asked to quicken, soon put the race to bed as he eased clear to win by a length and a half and in a track record time.
Charlie Appleby’s charge was wonderfully consistent last year, winning his first two starts before being beaten just a neck in the G2 Richmond Stakes on his next start. Next he took the Gimcrack by three lengths, before placing in both the G1 Middle Park and G1 Dewhurst Stakes. He is now likely to be return to the Berkshire course for a tilt at the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.
Bred by Oak Lodge Bloodstock, Blue Point is out of the Royal Applause mare Scarlett Rose, also dam of G2 Railway Stakes winner Formosina.
Leading sire Shamardal has recorded 18 G1 winners to date, including 2016 top-flight performers Dariyan, Tryster and Speedy Boarding. So far this year he has sired 17 horses who have won or placed at Stakes level, including G1-placed duo Able Friend and Pakistan Star.
