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Aidan O’Brien has a bit of a stranglehold on the three-year-old division at present, not least with his fillies, and another interesting one emerged on the big stage on Sunday when Up ran a fine race to finish second to the much-vaunted Beauty Parlour in the Poule D’Essai Des Pouliches, the French 1000 Guineas, at Longchamp.

Drawn 14 of 14, a terrible draw at turning Longchamp, especially over a mile, Up was immediately restrained from the stalls by Joseph O’Brien, but she initially wanted to go a little faster as she went wide on the first turn. She soon settled better but she had to race very wide all the way around the prolonged home turn, and she was further back than ideal as they entered the home straight, a situation that was exacerbated by her appearing to lug to her right at the top of the home straight with Joseph having to take a few strides to pull her out. She picked up really well in the final two furlongs, despite being carried right by the edging-in Fire Lily, to get to within a length of Beauty Parlour, who had the complete run of the race.

Up had finished a close-up third behind Homecoming Queen in the Leopardstown 1000 Guineas Trial on her previous run, and she turned the form around here with Fire Lily, who had finished just in front of her at Leopardstown, back up at a mile. She is a Galileo half-sister to Dutch Art, it is probably no coincidence that she improved for the step back up to a mile, and the way she finished here suggests she may well improve for a further step up in trip now to 10 furlongs. Whether or not she will stay the mile and a half of the Oaks is obviously not certain at this stage, but she would have to be respected now were she to run in either the English or Irish versions. It may be that 10 furlongs is her trip though, and the Pretty Polly could be the race for her.

13th May 2012

Duntle, backed into favouritism for the Derrinstown Stud 1000 Guineas Trial at Leopardstown on Sunday, is a filly to follow now as she did really well to keep on for fourth having helped set too fast a pace.

She broke well from stall one and was immediately to the fore, but Princess Sinead soon came to join her and they just went off a bit too hard in front. The field was quite well strung out after three furlongs and several of those in behind were under pressure from a fair way out. On top of that, Duntle probably went for home early enough off that strong pace, and although she looked like winning having gone into a two-length lead with a furlong and a half to run, she was worn down just inside the final furlong and was eventually just run out of the places too.

This was a really good effort from David Wachman’s filly to keep on for fourth – Princess Sinead faded early in the home straight to finish last of the 10 – especially as this was just her third run and her first back on turf at three. She had won a one-mile maiden at Dundalk by a full 18 lengths on her previous run, despite being weak in the market, and she proved here that she belongs at least in this grade (Group 3). She can do even better with this experience under her belt, and an easier lead, or even being held up just behind the pace, should see her in even better light.

13th May 2012

The Triple Crown is on, no mistake. In Camelot, we have – as we suspected we might have – a racehorse who could provide the link between the present day and Nijinsky.

You can easily understand why decision-makers have swerved the St Leger in the recent past. As well as the fact that we have reached that bizarre scenario in which you run the risk of making your horse less attractive as a potential stallion to commercial breeders if you win the Leger, there is also the fact that, by running in the final Classic, you probably have a negative impact on your horse’s chance of winning the Arc de Triomphe, a race in which victory will almost certainly significantly enhance your horse’s attractiveness as a stallion.

But there is something about Camelot now in the light of his Guineas win. Perhaps it’s his reputation, perhaps it’s the turn of foot that he showed over a mile, perhaps it’s his connections, but it would be barmy if his value as a stallion now would be diminished if he happened to win the Derby and the St Leger, given that he had the pace to win a Guineas.

On the contrary, any Triple Crown winner would display all the qualities that you look for in a stallion: pace, stamina, durability, soundness of body and mind.

There seems to be a willingness on the part of Team Ballydoyle/Coolmore to at least consider a tilt at the St Leger if Camelot happened to go and win the Derby. You can understand that willingness. The first since Nijinsky. Full circle. And if you had set Camelot’s sights on the Triple Crown at the start of the season, you would have said that the Guineas was going to be the most difficult leg.

It’s on all right.

Charming Chester

You blow your cover as a novice when you have to ask one of the bouncers/security guards to direct you to the press room, but, if you haven’t been yet, a visit to Chester should be on your to-do shortlist.

It isn’t the fact that it appears that the Romans built the city around the racecourse – the owners’ and trainers’ car park is a public car park for city shoppers on non-racedays – nor is it the fact that they have put a paddock and bars in the centre of the track where we have put golf courses, thereby using every square inch of space available (and there aren’t that many of them) to enhance the racegoing experience, such as it is.

It is the racecourse: seven and a half furlongs of left-turning track that you can walk in six and a half minutes, and from where you are required to report to the authorities if you find a piece of white rail that goes straight for more than half a furlong.

Contrast Chester with Newmarket or The Curragh, with their straightnesses and their vast expanses, and the wonder is that the same sport is staged on all three tracks. ‘Tis no wonder there are horses for courses.

Homecoming head-scratcher

There were many heads being scratched after Homecoming Queen’s victory in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket on Sunday, but, in hindsight, you can at least explain it.

• Having raced twice already this season, she was as fit as a flea in a race and on a day on which fitness mattered.

• On a line through Fire Lily, she only had just over a length to find with the 13/8 favourite.

• She is immaculately-bred.

• Her record on ground softer than yielding going into the race was 121.

• Her record when ridden from the front was 12191.

Importantly, she didn’t steal the race, she didn’t slip her field, she was the winner on merit in a good time, and it would be a mistake to under-estimate the worth of this performance.

Arvika on his way

Arvika Ligeonniere has looked like a high-class staying chasing prospect since his finished fourth behind Al Ferof in a Fairyhouse bumper in December 2009, and he did nothing as a hurdler to jeopardise that notion.

He has had his problems, and Willie Mullins has had to be patient with him, but his chasing debut at Punchestown on Wednesday was well worth the wait. He is rated 11lb superior to runner-up Tom Horn over hurdles, so he was entitled to beat him as well as he did, but Tom Horn is useful, and it was more the manner of Arvika Ligeonniere’s victory that impressed than what he beat.

His jumping was exemplary, accurate and effortless, and he was clever at the third last when he got in a little tight. It was a seamless performance, and the time of the race was really good given that Ruby Walsh was quite literally motionless for the duration of the race.

He is still just seven and, as long as he remains sound, his potential is limitless.

Swinton swindled

So today’s Swinton Hurdle joins the long list of race names that have had their souls traded for a passing sponsor’s buck. Just because it has become a trend doesn’t mean it’s not worrying. Without consistent race names, the season is just a collection of races. If racecourses and sponsors don’t realise this, surely it is up to the authorities to step in.

© The Irish Field, 12th May 2012

Noted as a horse to follow after his second win at two in a nine-furlong nursery at Newmarket in October, Main Sequence is worth noting again now after winning the Lingfield Derby Trial on Saturday to extend his record to four from four.

He was restrained from the stalls as he had been on each of his previous two starts after starting slowly on his debut, he raced in seventh of the eight runners here, before being relegated to last early on the second circuit. He was still last with two and a half furlongs to run, Ted Durcan had a tight hold of him as he tracked the favourite Shantaram through. There wasn’t much room for him, he had to wait for Shantaram to make ground before he could follow through, but once he got to the top of the home straight and was switched towards the inside, he really picked up well to race past Shantaram and win nicely.

There is a little worry that Shantaram doesn’t like being in front, he had looked all over the winner of a maiden at the Craven meeting when quickening to the front before appearing to ease up once in front and allowing Model Pupil to get back past him, and he has finished second now in all three of his races. However, the front pair came clear of several progressive and in-form rivals, and Main Sequence was ultimately quite comfortably on top at the line, even though the winning margin was only three parts of a length. Ted Durcan said afterwards that the horse was just idling, and that he picked up again when he felt the runner-up coming at him.

David Lanigan’s colt proved here that he stays a mile and a half, for all that it was only a steadily-run mile and a half, he can relax and settle off a steady gallop and he has a smart turn of foot. The time of this race was good, faster than standard, almost two seconds faster than the Oaks Trial won by Vow, who is now all the rage in the Oaks market, and faster comparatively than the time clocked by the 109-rated five-year-old Retrieve in the 10-furlong conditions race later on the card.

Main Sequence is highly progressive, and he appears to be improving with every run, he looks very professional for a horse at this stage of his career. He did flash his tail a couple of times when hit by the whip inside the final furlong here, as he did at Newmarket, but it didn’t stop his forward momentum. Crucially, unbeaten in four runs now, there is no knowing how good he could be.

He was supplemented for the Derby in early April at a cost of £8,000 and he heads to Epsom now. The way he won here suggests he should be well suited to Epsom, he can travel and quicken, and Ted Durcan was not concerned about a strongly-run mile and a half for him after this win. He is interesting for the Derby at 16/1 now.

The Lingfield Derby Trial doesn’t tend to be as good a trial for Epsom these days as it was, no winner at Lingfield has followed up at Epsom since High-Rise in 1998, but three horses won both races in the 1980s, and this year’s renewal was probably one of the strongest in some time. Remember also that Lanigan sent out Meeznah to finish second in the 2010 Oaks as a 25/1 shot, beaten just a neck by Snow Fairy.

12th May 2012

Lightning Cloud is worth noting after finishing first horse home down the middle of the track in the seven-furlong Victoria Cup at Ascot on Saturday.

Kevin Ryan’s gelding was slow from the stalls and was held up behind horses in the centre of the track before making smooth progress just after halfway. He was one of only a few horses still on the bridle two and a half furlongs out, he moved through to join Pravda Street in front of the centre-to-near-side group just inside the final quarter of a mile, and he didn’t have anything to take him any further into the race. He took a while to fully master Pravda Street, but he pulled out more late on to forge clear of his rivals down the middle, suggesting he could have done much better had he been racing on the far side. He is a horse who is at his best when he is covered up and delivered for a turn of foot.

Kevin Ryan’s four-year-old is still progressive, he had won five of his last seven at three last year, and he had finished second in the valuable lady riders’ race at Ascot on one of his other starts. He was the chosen mount of Amy Ryan here over her old friend Advanced, and there is a race like this in him now when he is better drawn. He appears best at this seven-furlong trip, he has a high cruising speed and sees the seventh furlong out well, he clearly goes well at Ascot (he has run really well on all three visits to the track now) and, as such, the Buckingham Palace Handicap at the Royal meeting looks like the race for him now. The handicapper has left him on his mark of 95, which is more than reasonable.

12th May 2012

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