Can Mischief Magic bounce back after a long layoff on his return to the all-weather?

If you were asked to name the most impressive performances at Kempton last season, it’s a good bet Mischief Magic’s victory in the Group 3 Sirenia Stakes would be among them.

Not many horses have the ability to come from second-last place to first up the relatively short straight at Kempton, but Mischief Magic did so and was two lengths clear at the line.

That marked him as a potentially top-class juvenile and he went on to prove it when landing the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Keeneland, but the wheels have fallen off this year.

Mischief Magic was beaten 16 lengths in the Commonwealth Cup Trial at Ascot on his seasonal reappearance in May and fared only a little better when seven and a half lengths behind Shaquille in the Royal Ascot Group 1 itself. He hasn’t been seen for 103 days since.

He returns here having been gelded and Charlie Appleby is 32-134 (24 per cent) with runners after that procedure in recent seasons, although Mischief Magic has to recapture his juvenile form.

Brad The Brief heads the dangers and is fitted with first-time cheekpieces. Trainer Hugo Palmer is 3-32 (nine per cent) with runners in that headgear for the first time since the start of last year, but his runners often go well fresh and Brad The Brief returns from a 59-day break.

Misty Grey is the other principal threat. He is 5-13 on the all-weather compared to 1-23 on turf. He was sixth under a big weight at Chelmsford two weeks ago and may build on that.
Race analysis by Graeme Rodway

Misty Grey (right): five of his six wins have come on the all-weatherCredit: Edward Whitaker

What they say

Hugo Palmer, trainer of Brad The Brief
This is plan B as we had planned to run him in the Bengough Stakes at Ascot on Saturday, but he needs soft ground so we’ve rerouted. He’s a winner on the all-weather so we’re hopeful he’ll go well.

Tom Dascombe, trainer of Misty Grey
He’s a previous course-and-distance winner so we’re hopeful of a good run before he probably heads to the horses-in-training sale. He’s in good form and we think he’ll be in the mix.

Charlie Appleby, trainer of Mischief Magic
He’s been gelded since his last run and has been giving out all the right signals at home, but we’ll know more when we get him on the track. He likes the all-weather and is a course-and-distance winner so hopefully he can go well.

Jose Santos, assistant to Ismail Mohammed, trainer of Never Just A Dream
We ran him twice in Dubai last winter and had hoped to run him in the Golden Shaheen, but he picked up a small leg injury. He’s had a long break and is now fully fit and we are running him back here with a view to returning to Dubai at the end of the month.
Reporting by David Milnes

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