Newmarket’s Group 1 Tattersalls Middle Park Stakes (1200m) on Saturday, September 26, brings together several of the season’s leading juvenile colts, with Great Barrier Reef looking to return to winning form after his first defeat.
Aidan O’Brien’s colt won his first three starts, including the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot, before being caught late by Push The Boat Out in the Group 3 Round Tower Stakes at the Curragh. The margin was only a neck, and the pair could meet again on Newmarket’s Rowley Mile.
Push The Boat Out has made rapid progress for Michael O’Callaghan. He won on debut at the Curragh and stepped straight into Group company to beat a proven Royal Ascot winner. Saturday would be his first attempt at Group 1 level, with another victory confirming him among the best sprinting colts of his generation.
O’Brien also has Marco Polo, Confucius, Man’s Best Friend and Carry The Flag among his options. Carry The Flag ran a much better race when second in the Prix Morny at Deauville, while Great Barrier Reef gives the Ballydoyle team an established six-furlong performer at the head of its challenge.
His son Joseph has left Folsom Blues in the race after the colt swept clear to win the Group 1 National Stakes over seven furlongs at the Curragh. Whether he returns to six furlongs is still uncertain, with the Dewhurst Stakes over seven furlongs also under consideration. His decision could have a major bearing on the strength of Saturday’s field.
The home challenge includes the unbeaten Inner City Blues, who has not raced since winning the July Stakes at Newmarket. Charlie Appleby has given the colt time between races and will now test him against deeper opposition on the Rowley Mile.
Orthodox also returns with something to prove. Clive Cox’s colt produced a striking performance to win the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot but finished sixth on testing ground in the Prix Morny. A sounder surface at Newmarket could give him the chance to show that Ascot form again.
Force Noir is a further contender after Amo Racing paid a £20,000 supplementary fee to add him to the race. Trained by Robson de Aguiar, he won at Dundalk last week, although this represents a substantial rise in class. The final declarations will establish which of the remaining colts take their place.
First run in 1866, the Middle Park Stakes remains one of Britain’s major tests of two-year-old speed. Recent winners include Vandeek in 2023, Shadow Of Light in 2024 and Wise Approach last year. Its position alongside the Cheveley Park Stakes on the final day of Newmarket’s Cambridgeshire meeting gives racing fans two Group 1 contests over the same straight six furlongs.
For Great Barrier Reef, Saturday offers a chance to answer his Curragh defeat. For Push The Boat Out, it is an opportunity to show that result was the start of something bigger. And if Folsom Blues joins them, the Middle Park could become one of the strongest juvenile races of the autumn.
By Scott Bailey
