George Strawbridge Jr.’s homebred Thought Worthy set the pace under William Buick and held off favored Main Sequence by a neck to win the $235,724 Neptune Investment Management Great Voltigeur Stakes (Eng-G2) at York on Wednesday. The Pennsylvania-Bred three-year-old Dynaformer colt out of the stakes-winning Diesis (GB) mare Vignette is a full brother to Lucarno, who won the Great Voltigeur for Strawbridge and trainer John Gosden in 2007 en route to a win in the Ladbrokes St. Leger (Eng-G1) that fall. Gosden said following Thought Worthy’s win on Wednesday that the colt would be directed to the about 1-3/16-mile classic at Doncaster on September 15, where he could present a strong challenge to QIPCO Two Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1) and Investec Epsom Derby (Eng-G1) winner Camelot’s bid for the English Triple Crown.
Thought Worthy ran comfortably on the lead under Buick before being roused with four furlongs remaining. The colt showed courage in the late going to deny a bid from Group 3 winner and Epsom Derby runner-up Main Sequence, a Kentucky- bred Aldebaran colt. Thought Worthy covered 1-1/2 miles in 2:35.96 and picked up his first group stakes win and third win from six starts. Another Kentucky-bred colt, Encke, finished third.
Noble Mission, a full brother to European Horse of the Year Frankel who entered the Great Voltigeur off of a win in the Bet365 Gordon Stakes (Eng-G3) at Goodwood on July 31, made a mild bid to reach contention with two furlongs remaining but flattened out and finished fourth.