Is He The Gold Standard? Juddmonte Colt Seeks Curragh Redemption

[Wandering Eyes]

There are few around that would accept that Field Of Gold was second-best three weeks ago despite the formbook stating so and on The Curragh's conventional track on Saturday Juddmonte's elite performer has the chance to put matters right in the G1 Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas. While Godolphin's admirable Ruling Court is not here, there could be a case to be made that the real star of the Newmarket Classic is. The Gosdens found his defeat there hard to take, which is backed up by the sectionals, and like his sire Kingman he seeks quick atonement.

“He's trained well since the Guineas. It's a race we hadn't originally planned to go to, but we're going there now and we'll see how the race pans out,” John Gosden said. “We're drawn out on the wing of it in stall nine of nine, but we have opted to go there rather than waiting for Ascot.”

Kingman's other representative Cosmic Year is another colt seemingly heading to the big time, but Field Of Gold is ahead of the curve and this is his to lose. Aidan O'Brien's customary iron grip on this Classic is loosened for one year and despite the promise of the stable's Listed Tetrarch Stakes winner Officer, opportunity knocks for Field Of Gold.

If there is one fly in the ointment, it could be Hotazhell, whose defeat of Delacroix in the G1 Futurity Trophy looks a whole lot better now especially as the trusty yardstick Wimbledon Hawkeye was so far adrift. Beaten once in three starts at this track, when in front of Scorthy Champ as the runner-up to Henri Matisse in the G2 Futurity Stakes, he has to peak on his seasonal bow having been taken out of the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains.

All Eyes On Lake Victoria…

Sunday's G1 Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas sees yet another of Juddmonte's Kingman representatives take one of the central roles, but the Group 3 trial winner Swelter will be up against it if Lake Victoria builds on her 1,000 Guineas sixth to the degree that connections expect. Very few fillies win Group 1 races over six and seven furlongs and a mile at two and until Ballydoyle's champion of 2024 proves otherwise, she is the most exciting of her sex around.

Second and third at Newmarket, Flight and Simmering re-engage for Ollie Sangster while Paddy Twomey has a wildcard in Sioux Nation's impressive Cork maiden winner City Of Memphis and Donnacha O'Brien has supplemented the G3 Athasi Stakes winner Atsila, whose sire Phoenix Of Spain enjoyed his finest hour on this weekend.

Ryan Moore seems unconcerned about the opposition. “That run should bring her on and she'll be much fitter this time,” he said of the likely hot favourite. “I certainly haven't lost any faith in her and I expect her to show her true colours on Sunday.”

Top-Level Quandaries On Sunday

Sunday's three other Group 1 races are for the older brigade, with The Curragh's Tattersalls Gold Cup featuring the rematch between the G2 Mooresbridge Stakes one-two Los Angeles and White Birch, with the latter bidding for back-to-back renewals. Juddmonte's G1 British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes winner Kalpana and Shadwell's G1 Champion Stakes hero Anmaat are sure to test the speed of Los Angeles at this 10 1/2-furlong trip and this is probably the first time last year's G1 Irish Derby winner has been asked such a stern question short of a mile and a half.

At ParisLongchamp, the possibly needlessly-revamped G1 Prix Vicomtesse Vigier has failed to attract anything significantly better than it did as a Group 2, with Godolphin's Dubai Future looking to repeat his G2 Dubai Gold Cup defeat of the dual G1 Prix Royal Oak winner Double Major while the G1 Prix d'Ispahan sees another mile-and-a-half star of 2024 in Sosie also look to reinvent himself, Los Angeles-style. This weird 9 1/4-furlong trip is another step down from the 10 1/2 furlongs of the G1 Prix Ganay, but the Wertheimer homebred may still have a class edge in one of Europe's more dubious Group 1s. If not, the upwardly-mobile Listed Paradise Stakes winner Sardinian Warrior will have a say.

Sosie's trainer Andre Fabre has a key target in mind for last year's G1 Grand Prix de Paris hero. “We have supplemented because his owners want to see if he can run in the Eclipse,” he explained. “Obviously a mile and a half is perfect for him, but he has some class so we'll find out. Thinking of him being a stallion later, it is important to prove himself at this distance, too.”

Saturday's Fast Cast

Saturday's trio of Group 2 sprints see some Royal Ascot hopefuls limber up, with Haydock's Sandy Lane hosting Godolphin's Symbol Of Honour who is out just a week after his Listed Carnarvon Stakes success. Rock-solid performers Big Mojo and Arizona Blaze add significant ballast, but there is perhaps more of an air of excitement surrounding the return of the unbeaten G2 Mill Reef Stakes winner Powerful Glory. The track's Temple Stakes is for the King Charles-bound dragsters, with the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Starlust operating under a five-pound penalty for those excesses, while The Curragh's Greenlands witnesses the Irish debut of Ballydoyle's recruit Storm Boy.

Richard Fahey said of Powerful Glory, “We're pleased with him, he's wintered well and we're about to find out whether he can play with the big boys this season. Everything has gone to plan and this is the first chance we've had to run him without a penalty, but it will be a good chance to see where we're at with him.”

Ryan Moore said of Storm Boy, “He's got a big reputation and he's a big, strong boy, but it's his first start for a long time and it will just be nice to get him started over here. The Curragh will be a new experience for him, as it's a stiff six furlongs rather than running round a bend.”

Other Points Of Interest

Saturday's feast begins with the six-furlong Curragh 2-year-old maiden won in recent times by Ballydoyle's future stars Henri Matisse, Unquestionable and Arizona, so the fact that Ryan Moore has sided with the yard's unraced Wootton Bassett colt Brussels over the once-raced Kansas is noteworthy. In Sunday's opening 2-year-old fillies' maiden which has played host to the likes of Zarinsk and Albigna in recent times and is a key Albany pointer, Ryan Moore is on another Wootton Bassett with Beautify his pick of the two Ballydoyle newcomers.

Perhaps the best of the juveniles seen so far from Rosegreen, Albert Einstein, lines up in Sunday's G3 Marble Hill Stakes before Porta Fortuna makes her keenly-anticipated return in the G2 Lanwades Stud Stakes. Ryan Moore is on her too, so another Sunday bonanza for the rider is not out of the question.

Saturday's card at Goodwood boasts the Listed Cocked Hat Stakes and Listed Height Of Fashion Stakes, which used to be last-ditch Derby and Oaks trials known as the Predominate and Lupe but now serve more as stepping stones to the Royal meeting's G2 King Edward VII Stakes and G2 Ribblesdale Stakes. Both host some potentially smart Ralph Beckett representatives, with Valmont's Irish Oaks-entered daughter of Mastercraftsman Perfect Your Craft in the Height Of Fashion and David Aykroyd's unbeaten homebred Amiloc in the Cocked Hat.

Amiloc may not be Pride Of Arras, but he's not too far off based on the evidence of his mile conditions win here earlier this month and apart from anything else he sets a useful standard for the others to aim at. One is Wathnan Racing's Haydock novice scorer Opportunity, Frankel's son of Izzi Top who holds a Derby entry.

“The plan is to go to Goodwood and find out whether he wants to put his hand up for Epsom or not,” Wathnan's Richard Brown explained. “This is going to tell us everything we need to know. I think we have got a nice horse on our hands, whether he is a Derby horse who knows, he will tell us on Saturday. Ralph Beckett has a horse in there that I rate very highly and this will tell us everything we need to know about where we are going to go next. He's with the right man, William [Haggas] will know where to go.”

The post Is He The Gold Standard? Juddmonte Colt Seeks Curragh Redemption appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article