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totesport SOVEREIGN STAKES TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT "SALISBURY SPLENDOUR - SUMMER FESTIVAL"

Posted July 27th 2005

Salisbury's most prestigious meeting of the season, the "SALISBURY SPLENDOUR - SUMMER FESTIVAL", takes place on Wednesday, August 10 and Thursday, August 11, with the £60,000 Group Three totesport SOVEREIGN STAKES taking centre stage.

The totesport Sovereign Stakes was run for the first time as a Group Three contest in 2004 - Salisbury's first Group race in 18 years - and produced a thrilling finish with Norse Dancer defeating Lucky Story by a short-head with Hurricane Alan in third and the 2003 winner Passing Glance in fourth.

This proved to extremely good form, with the average end of season rating for the first four horses home being 118. Only 14 of the 26 Group One races in Britain had a better average rating and the leading Group Two race of 2004 - the Princess of Wales's Stakes at Newmarket - provided an equal average rating.

Norse Dancer has gone on to excel in Group One company since his Salisbury success, chasing home Azamour in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown in September last year and most recently when runner-up to the same horse in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes on July 23 at Newbury.

The highlight of the opening day of the "Salisbury Splendour - Summer Festival" is the £42,000 Listed European Breeders Fund Upavon Fillies' Stakes (4.00pm), a mile and a quarter contest for fillies and mares aged three or over.

Michael Jarvis' New Morning, a full-sister to the brilliant mare Islington, was the winning filly in 2004 and she has progressed this year to take the Group Three Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown, where she defeated the 2004 Derby winner North Light.

New Morning was adding to the good quality of recent Upavon Stakes winners, which includes the 2001 heroine Chorist, subsequently successful in the Group One Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh, Ireland.

There is a six-race programme on Wednesday, August 10, beginning with the CARMEN WINES EBF MAIDEN STAKES (2.30pm) and concluding with the GOLDRING SECURITY SERVICES FILLIES' HANDICAP (5.00pm). The remaining races are the PAMBRY ELECTRONICS CLAIMING STAKES (3.00pm), the PEMBROKE CUP HANDICAP (3.30pm) and the KNIGHTS & CO HANDICAP (4.30pm).

Thursday, August 12 is totesport Sovereign Stakes day, with the feature race taking place at 4.15pm. The card features six contests, getting underway with the PIPER HEIDSIECK CHAMPAGNE MAIDEN AUCTION STAKES (2.30pm), won by the subsequently Listed-place Joint Aspiration in 2004, and running through to the AXMINSTER CARPETS APPRENTICE HANDICAP (5.20pm). The other races are the MIDDLETON PARTNERS MAIDEN STAKES (3.05pm), the STELLA ARTOIS FILLIES' HANDICAP (3.40pm) and the BLACKTHORN CIDER HANDICAP (4.50pm).

Jeremy Martin, Clerk of the Course at Salisbury, said: "We could not have wished for a better start when the totesport Sovereign Stakes was upgraded to Group Three status for the first time last year and are hoping that the 2005 renewal proves to be just as good.

"The European Breeders Fund Upavon Stakes on the Wednesday provides the perfect centrepiece for the opening day and is getting quite a reputation for producing top-class fillies."

Admission prices on each day is Members' Enclosure £18, Tattersalls Enclosure £11 and Course Enclosure £6. Reduced rates are available for all enclosures up until 5.00pm on Tuesday, August 2. Accompanied children under 16 are admitted FREE and car parking is FREE. The gates open at 12 noon on both days and a big screen showing all the action as well as full-colour racecards will be available.

With the school holidays now in full swing, there will also be entertainment for younger members of the family at the "Salisbury Splendour - Summer Festival" including a bouncy castle, clowns, a penalty shoot-out competition and there will also be an eagles and vultures display on both days at 1.15pm on the course.

Salisbury also races on Friday, August 19, which is the final evening meeting of the year (first race 5.35pm) and on the afternoon of Friday, August 26 (first race 2.05pm), when the Listed Weatherbys Stonehenge Stakes is the main attraction. Once again, there will be family entertainment available at both these meetings.

For further information, please contact Jeremy Martin, Salisbury's Clerk of the Course, on 01722 326461.

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