Godolphin

7 ran 1m26.05  
Owner: Godolphin

With Lucky Story, Shamardal and Sir Percy amongst its recent winners, the Vintage Stakes has a strong profile in the juvenile calendar, and the latest renewal looked interesting, 4 of the runners having already competed at listed level or higher; Rio De La Plata and Lizard Island showed themselves smart colts as they drew away at the end of a strongly-run race.RIO DE LA PLATA (USA)'s maiden win at Newmarket in July is proving strong form and, as expected, he'd no problems in stepping up in grade, despite looking a bit green once in front; held up, travelling supremely well, he produced almost press-button acceleration to cruise ahead after 2f out, drifting right as he did so, and was merely kept up to his work once he'd asserted; a grand individual, who again took the eye on the way to post, he's obviously got the scope and potential to develop further and will surely be a leading contender for one of the major juvenile prizes in the autumn; clearly blessed with plenty of basic pace, he should get 1m but wouldn't be certain to stay any further. LIZARD ISLAND (USA), conceding weight all round by dint of his win in a weakish group 2 at the Curragh last time, looked to have plenty on his plate, and ran a fine race, tapped for toe when the winner made his move then stretching out impressively in pursuit, leaving us in no doubt that he'll get a mile and that there's almost certainly better still to come. DONEGAL (USA), who'd created a good impression when winning at a much lower level at York last time, obviously had a deal more on his plate here and ran at least as well, albeit no match for the first 2; he should get 1m. SCINTILLO fared considerably better than the other two who helped force the strong pace, and ran as well as he's ever done in this better class of race, though out on his feet at the death; he's a likeable individual, who remains likely to benefit from 1m. ELLMAU was again ridden aggressively, pushed up to dispute the lead and one-paced after the winner swept by, running well below his Newmarket form. IL WARRD (IRE) was well below his Ascot form, unable to dominate outright this time, like the fifth probably overdoing things as he tussled for the lead early on; we know he's better than this. AAIM TO STORM (USA), typically edgy and on his toes beforehand, looks to be going the wrong way, for all he faced a stiff task turned out quickly; having been held up, he came under pressure early in the straight, tending to wander, and was eventually eased up.