The King In His Counting House

[Wandering Eyes]

Over the next few days, the European turf flat season increases in temperature and before its reigning champion Too Darn Hot (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) re-enters the fray at York the regal presence of Persian King (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) will agitate the thermometer at ParisLongchamp on Sunday. Out on his own in class terms as he lines up for the G1 The Emirates Poule d’Essai des Poulains, Godolphin and Ballymore Thoroughbred Ltd’s ‘TDN Rising Star’ will take Andre Fabre past Francois Boutin’s tally of six winners if he follows the script as it is laid out. The only horse to beat Magna Grecia (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), with their G3 Autumn S. tussle still strong in the memory, he cut an improved figure on his emphatic return in this Classic’s premier trial, the course-and-distance G3 Prix de Fontainebleau on Apr. 14. Victory would provide Invincible Spirit (Ire) and his exciting son Kingman with a Guineas double and there are seemingly very few negatives.

Fabre sees it that way and said, “Obviously I was very pleased to see Magna Grecia win as he did last week. He’s in good shape. The ground will probably be a bit soft for him, but he will handle it–most Kingman’s handle it quite well. Stall two is good, I can’t have any complaints about that.” Godolphin’s sound investment in Persian King faces its first test and the operation’s Lisa-Jane Graffard commented, “Persian King is in very good form and Andre Fabre has been delighted with his progress. There is a slight question mark about the ground as it will be Persian King’s first run on soft ground, but he is a horse with a lot of class and we hope that he can produce his best.”

Fabre also runs Munitions (War Front) and Godolphin’s $550,000 Keeneland September graduate took the other important prep, the G3 Prix Djebel over seven furlongs at Maisons-Laffitte on Apr. 10. Unlike Persian King, his stamina is unproven and he was an unconvincing stayer when hanging on to prevail by a nose from Graignes (Fr) (Zoffany {Ire}) there.

“Munitions comes into this race on the back of a narrow victory in a trial and has earned his place in the field,” Lisa-Jane Graffard commented. “He has plenty to prove over this distance and is racing at Longchamp for the first time, but he is in great form at the moment.”

This has long been the go-to Classic for dubious stayers due to the fact that it is run around a bend, but the sprint-orientated types who have taken the plunge tend to have failed just as much as they have at Newmarket. Unperturbed by that, there are a few connections again happy to take up the challenge despite obvious stamina doubts and one of the chief ones is Ballydoyle’s Never No More (Ire) (No Nay Never). Like Munitions, he was campaigned over speed trips at two but saw out seven furlongs well when beating Madhmoon (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) in the Listed 2000 Guineas Trial at Leopardstown on Apr. 6.

Roger Varian is pitching Sheikh Mohammed bin Obaid Al Maktoum’s San Donato (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) back into action straight up in this test, with his last effort coming when successful in the six-furlong Listed Doncaster S. that Night of Thunder (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) won in 2013. By the 2010 Poulains hero, he is out of the speedy Boston Rocker (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) from a fast family so his ability to stretch to a mile must be taken on trust.

Freddy Head’s season has yet to take off and with Anodor (Fr) (Anodin {Ire}) drawn widest of all it is debatable whether there will be any improvement in the yard’s fortunes on Sunday. After his win in the G3 Prix des Chenes over this course and distance in September, he described Jean-Louis Bouchard’s chestnut as the best juvenile he had trained. Praise indeed, but he was only third in the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere back over the same track and trip on Arc day and the jury is out. “British and Irish trainers often send their horses without a prep for these big early-season races and that strategy frequently seems to work,” Head commented. “French trainers tend to think a prep is necessary, but sometimes that can result in too hard a race. Anodor can perform well fresh and I’m happy with him.”

There is a live chance of a Godolphin Classic double on the afternoon, with the Henri-Alex Pantall-trained Castle Lady (Ire) (Shamardal) favoured for the G1 The Emirates Poule d’Essai des Pouliches. Stepping forward from a clear-cut debut win on Chantilly’s Polytrack Mar. 14 to take the G3 Prix de la Grotte over this track and trip a month later, the relative of Raven’s Pass has plenty of progress still to make on pedigree.

“Castle Lady is making only her third lifetime start and it is hard to win a Classic not having raced as a 2-year-old, but her trainer has been very pleased with her progress this year,” Lisa-Jane Graffard commented. “She has yet to race on this type of ground, but appears to be a versatile and straightforward filly and we are hopeful that it won’t be an inconvenience. She has done absolutely nothing wrong so far and is the top-rated filly in the field.”

Unlike the colts’ version, this Classic is winnable from a wide draw with three fillies since 2010 successful from double-figure stalls. East (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who is widest of all here, beat the colts in the G3 Prix Thomas Bryon at Saint-Cloud in October before putting up an impressive effort to be second to Newspaperofrecord (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) when drawn 14 for the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. She had the likes of Just Wonderful (Dansili {GB}), The Mackem Bullet (Ire) (Society Rock {Ire}) and Lily’s Candle (Fr) (Style Vendome {Fr}) behind on that occasion and trainer Kevin Ryan is in bullish mood.

“She is in great form and everything has gone to plan,” he said. “There has been a lot of rain in Paris, but we know she handles soft ground.”

East’s overseas experience will stand her in fine stead for this examination. “She was unbelievable in America. She got there and hardly lost any weight, then she put weight on over the five or six days she was there,” Ryan explained. “She has got a great constitution. She has grown and has got stronger. She is just a pleasure to train and we have had a lovely run into the race with her, so I’m very happy with her. There was no need to run her in a trial as she is a very easy filly to train. She has been away from home and had a racecourse gallop, so there are no excuses there.”

Another with top-level form at two is the Wertheimers’ still-unexposed Matematica (Ger) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}), who was denied by a short neck by Lily’s Candle when runner-up in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac over this course and distance on Arc day. Due to her winless record as a juvenile, trainer Carlos Laffon-Parias had the luxury of picking a confidence-boosting maiden for her prep and the homebred duly sauntered to a three-length success over a mile at Chantilly on Apr. 8. “It was only her second start in the Boussac–she got to the front and didn’t know what was happening. Only inexperience got her beat,” her trainer said.

Having beaten Lady Bamford’s Suphala (Fr) (Frankel {GB}) in the G3 Prix Imprudence over seven furlongs at Maisons-Laffitte on Apr. 10, Alexander Tamagni-Bodmer and Regula Vannod’s Watch Me (Fr) (Olympic Glory {Ire}) has obvious claims. Also successful in the Listed Criterium du Languedoc at this trip on heavy ground in November, the descendant of the G1 Prix Vermeille winner Sharaya (Youth) may be under-estimated.

At Leopardstown, Broome (Ire) (Australia {GB}) is charged with maintaining his stable’s 100% record in Britain and Ireland’s established preps for the blue riband in the G3 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial S. at Leopardstown. Looking a different proposition to the lethargic if talented figure he generally cut as a 2-year-old when winning the G3 Ballysax S. by eight lengths over this course and distance on Apr. 6, he bids to provide Ballydoyle with a dozen successes in this Derby pointer which surprisingly has not been won by a subsequent Epsom hero since High Chaparral (Ire) in 2002.

“The plan at the start of the season was always for Broome to go to Leopardstown for the Ballysax S. and then back for the Derrinstown S.,” Aidan O’Brien said. “We’ve been very happy with him since the Ballysax. Broome has always been a lovely, laid-back horse and he seems to be in good form since his last run so we’re looking forward to running him again at Leopardstown on Sunday. He has done everything right. We’ve always liked him a lot, he was just beaten in a Group 1 last year and he was only a baby.”

Joseph O’Brien takes on Senior with Lloyd Williams’s Apr. 6 course mile maiden winner Buckhurst (Ire) (Australia {GB}) and he said of him, “We want to give him every chance of being an English Derby horse, so he’ll go to the Derrinstown and we’ll take it from there with him but he’s in good form at home.” Dermot Weld upset the Ballydoyle bandwagon with Hazapour (Ire) (Shamardal)–who runs in the card’s G3 Comer Group International Amethyst S.–in 2018 and puts forward Shadwell’s Rakan (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}), a son of their high-class G3 Blue Wind S. winner and G1 Epsom Oaks runner-up Tarfasha (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) who also opened his account over a mile here when last seen in October.

In the card’s G3 Derrinstown Stud 1000 Guineas Trial, there is an unexposed member of His Highness The Aga Khan’s ever-feared and respected distaff cast in the Mick Halford-trained Tipperary maiden winner Hamariyna (Ire) (Sea the Moon {Ger}). The runner-up in that Apr. 25 nine-furlong contest has gone on to score and there was real promise in the way the homebred relative of Harzand (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) saw out her race. “It is a big step up from a maiden to Group 3 class, but she is a filly we like a lot and Sunday should mark our card for the rest of the year,” Halford said. “She is a filly that will probably stay further, but deserves her chance at this level over a mile.”

Others under the radar at present include the Fozzy Stack-trained Apr. 7 Cork maiden scorer Lady Wannabe (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) and Dean Street Doll (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}) who hails from Richard O’Brien’s small Ballingarry yard. “It’s a big step up from her maiden win, but it fits in nicely–15 days after she has won and it will be interesting for all of us to see if she’s capable of coping with that,” he said of the Apr. 27 Limerick maiden winner. “We’ll see what Sunday brings. We’re taking that step with trepidation more than anything else.”

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