Its after weeks & weekends like we've just witnessed that I really feel proud to be a passionate follower of The Sport of Kings & in a small way involved in this wonderful sport.
Doncaster's St Leger meeting was cracking from start to finish & I thought ATR's coverage was one of its best, brilliant pundits, analysts & some interesting guests. I also must single out someone I don't often have too much time for but Matt 'Yeehaa' Chapman was outstanding during the week with informative interviews, asking the most relevant questions rather than rambling like most of the RUK presenters do, his Evander Holyfield interview was particularly entertaining as was the sparring with the 'legends' before the race last Wednesday. When Chapman is on form like this he is truly a fantastic presenter but he does have two sides & I'm afraid that reared its ugly head during Sunday's Arc Trial coverage where to be honest he just annoyed me something rotten, over zealous incredulous statements about the Arc Trials & speaking before he had fully thought through what he was going to say. That's Matt Chapman though a human equivalent of marmite!
Throughout the week at Doncaster we saw fantastic performances both human & equine so here are my Top 5 from Donny:
5: Breton Rock - confirming my long held high regard for him by winning cosily a competitive 7f handicap
4: The Lark - finally winning a Group race hopefully she can now go on to be a real force (see below)
3: Godolphin's 2 year olds on the march with wins from Ihtimal (upholding the form of Berkshire see below), Be Ready (again on similar form lines through Somewhat upholding Berkshire's form) & Outstrip who showed a real likeable attitude he could well be underestimated
2: A pixel separating the rejuvenated Angels Will Fall & Steps after a cracking race for The Portland
1: Paul Hanagan lifting Sir Reginald up on the line in the 6f handicap on Friday thus completing one of most stunning trebles I have had the good fortune to select Be Ready / Danehill Brook (Down Royal) & Sir Reginald. Safe to say I was over the moon.
You may have noticed the St Leger is not one of my highlights & maybe its because I got the race so wrong but in reality it just left me feeling empty, it looked a really slow race (I am not a rider but I have been watching racing my whole life & you can tell if a race looks good or terrible even without the times, split times sometimes to much information can blow your mind). As the time proved it was slow by 5.20s which really played into Leading Light's hands, he is an honest horse but by no means a genuine Group 1 animal, he would have no chance in an Arc & I don't see him being good enough for an Ascot Gold Cup with so many potential improvers coming into that division. Talent the 2nd is as most people believed a staying filly but again I doubt she's a genuine Group 1 performer. Galileo Rock is just slow, he will be contesting cup races with the winner next year. Libertarian is another who I would not be surprised to be campaigned over staying distances as he really lacks pace for top races & is lazy. I should imagine Karl Burke & co are extremely happy with the money they got for him after his two most recent runs. As for the rest they just weren't good enough. After some excellent St Leger's in recent years we were due an average one & so Saturday's turned out to be.
As I mentioned earlier Godolphin's resurgence at Doncaster was fantastic to see & they look to have three lovely horses to go into next season with. Ihtimal has improved with everyone run & was extremely impressive in a fairly substandard May Hill on Friday also that day the very good looking Be Ready showed that his debut run was no fluke when going about his business in ready fashion travelling powerfully through is race before effortlessly quickening clear his price in the morning had been 11/4 which was ludicrous.
The other Godolphin 2 year old winner was Outstrip (see below) in Saturday's Group 2 Attheraces Champagne Stakes in the end he only had 3 rivals to beat but they were 3 decent animals who had all contested Group races on their most recent starts; Outstrip travelled well in behind before getting slightly outpaced as the pace quickened but it did not take long for this really likeable little colt to come back on the bridle & quicken clear to win going away, he seems to be underrated in the racing media but I was more impressed with him than Be Ready as he looked beat whereas Be Ready was always in control. He has shown he can go on good ground & is capable on softening ground so he has a good future.
At The Curragh on Saturday I thought Obilterator was extremely impressive in his maiden win for Qatar Racing & Ger Lyons travelling like a very good horse & battling on well to win going away. He holds no fancy entries but will surely be tried in a higher grade now (he is a half brother to Just The Judge).
Sunday's Arc Trials on paper looked excellent & they didn't disappoint as they were all very interesting races.
Firstly The Prix Niel; Andre Fabre had said in the build up Flintshire would not run if the ground was soft so I was surprised he lined up but he was as predicted unable to cope with underfoot conditions. The winner Japanese Derby winner Kizuna was always in the right place (Take has clearly learned after the White Muzzle debacle back in 1992) travelling well & showed a real nice turn of foot to win I would say cosily as I don't really believe he was that lucky to win (as most of the racing media do) the fast finishing Ruler Of The World never really looked like he would get there to me, he was deemed to be unlucky by the majority but I just believe that's due to his lack of tactical speed when he won the Derby the race was run for him & he was first to attack whereas yesterday's race was not & the Arc is even less likely to be run specifically for him. Ocavango has long been held in high regard with Fabre & I feel his run has been glossed over, he has not run since a being stopped in his run behind stablemate Flintshire in The Grand Prix de Paris back in July, he is a big stuffy horse who again travelled well on Sunday but was held in by Shikarpour & another stablemate Triple Threat thus his challenge was delayed as he only got out at the same time the winner Kizuna was making his challenge, he managed to go with him for a few strides but did not quite have the turn of foot of the eventual winner, his jockey the excellent Olivier Peslier was not hard on him & this good looking animal can only improve. In my opinion this is & always has been Fabres Arc horse, given soft ground & a stalking ride on Arc day I fully expect him to be in there fighting. He is still massively overpriced.
The unbeaten filly Treve was given a fabulous ride by the resurgent Frankie Dettori, she looks outstanding & is clearly the best 3 year old filly in Europe. She will be a tough nut to crack on the big day. (See race below)
So Japan had already won one trial & the big hope from the land of the rising sun had not yet run; Orfevre is a lovely looking beast but is an incredibly funny animal as he looks fabulous beating up inferior animals but when the going gets really tough something snaps ie last year's Japan Cup, Arc & most incredibly even more so than the Arc defeat was The Hanshin Daishoten in 2012 when the horse just took over & pretty much ran out after 4 furlongs before coming home to nearly win (see video).
He is supremely talented but is just not one you could take a short price on at the highest level. You also must take into account that horses returning for a 2nd crack at the Arc have an abysmal win record in the last 10 years Bago (Won), Cherry Mix (2nd), Hurricane Run (Won), Shirocco, Soldier Of Fortune (3rd), Youmzain (2nd), Zambezi Sun, Fame And Glory, Cavarlyman, Workforce (Won), Nakyama Festa (2nd), Shareta (2nd) & St Nicholas Abbey have all come back to race in an Arc for a second time & all have been beaten. If Japan are to win this year's Arc then for me it would be in the shape of Kizuna.
Maxios gained another deserved Group 1 success getting a great ride from Mr Pasquier, some have said Frankie gave Olympic Glory too much to do..not me I just think the horse was greatly overrated after its last run & is not a genuine Group 1 animal. Also on the Longchamp card I was most impressed by the run of the Mikael Delzangles trained Smoky Hill finishing 4th in the staying Group race, he travelled nicely on the outside but could not pick up in this loftier grade, he looks well handicapped for his entry in the Betfred Cesarewitch & is worth a punt.
Sunday's Irish St Leger was a procession from a once 70 rated handicapper Voleuse De Coeurs with another great ride from the excellent Chris Hayes, Dermot Weld really is a magician. She will be an interesting recruit to the staying division next season if kept in training while dear Ahzeemah ran his guts out again what a consistent horse he is in 18 starts he has only finished outside the first 3 twice & both those times he has finished 4th, In fact he has finished 1st or 2nd 14 times. He really needs 2 miles & just lacks a change of gear but my he is a battler. Toormore registered a first Group 1 victory for Middleham Park Racing long associated with average Northern handicappers they have really stepped it up in the last few seasons so congratulations to all involved. Toormore just beat Outstrip last time so the form was there plus in truth it was a very weak Group 1 & he is the improver. I would still like to see the rematch between Outstrip & Toomore.
Horses to Follow:
Breton Rock - looks likely to only go up a couple of pounds for latest success & can win again on similar ground - Back on next start
Proud Chieftain - stopped twice at Doncaster last week when travelling best of all, looking likely to head to the Cambridgeshire - Back on next start if running in the Cambridgeshire 33/1 generally available
Smoky Hill - ran an excellent trial for the cesarewitch for a trainer who used to work for Jimmy Fitzgerald who won the race with Trainglot in 1990 - Back Ante Post Cesarewitch 25/1 Betfred
Ocavango - ran a race full of promise in Niel, slightly short of room & jockey not hard on him - Back for Prix de L'Arc de Triomphe 25/1 Bet365
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