BDS-bred Raucous captures Listed Hopeful Stakes

Raucous, bred by Saleh Al Homaizi and Imad Al Sagar out of Shyrl, gained a deserved stakes breakthrough on Saturday when nosing out Group 1 winner Pretty Pollyanna to win the Listed Hopeful Stakes at Newmarket.

It was the sixth win for Raucous, whose current mark of 105 is a throwback to his juvenile days when he ran placed in the Mill Reef and Gimcrack Stakes, in the latter event to our own Ajaya.

The six-year-old has been in excellent form of late for Robert Cowell, notably when running third under a big weight to Khaadem in the Stewards’ Cup at Goodwood.

Settled just behind the leaders by Alistair Rawlinson on this occasion, the gelding answered every call to run down Pretty Pollyanna and Rock On Baileys to win by a head.

Raucous was bred by Saleh Al Homaizi and Imad Al Sagar out of Queen Mary Stakes runner-up Shyrl, who was bought for 70,000gns as a two-year-old by Tony Nerses.

The son of Dream Ahead was sold for 100,000gns as a yearling and is the best of four winners out of Shyrl, whose current performers also include this season’s smart two-year-old Divine Spirit.