18th-Jun-2015

Pleascach sets a high standard here. She is the Guineas winner, a Classic winner who escaped a penalty in a Group 2 race because the Classic was over a mile, not a mile and a half.

She is a high-class filly, she has the best form in the race and she should stay the trip. However, she is an even money shot, so you are entitled to look for weaknesses. You could argue that she might not stay, she had the pace to win a Guineas and her dam didn’t go beyond 10 furlongs. You can also point to the fact that this will be her fourth run in two months, that she has never raced outside of Ireland before, and that her stable companion Round Two disappointed in the Coventry Stakes on Tuesday.

All things being equal, she is the most likely winner of the race in my book, but Curvy should not be a 7/1 shot against her, and I am backing her. David Wachman’s filly was a moderate juvenile last year, but she has been a revelation this season. She has won all three of her races, rising from the mark of 72 off which she began this season to her current rating of 106.

David Wachman’s filly has obviously matured, but she has been fitted with cheekpieces this season, and she has stepped up in trip to 10 furlongs. The cheekpieces are back on today obviously, and she steps up again in trip to a mile and a half, a move that could bring about even further improvement.

She stayed on really gamely at The Curragh last time over 10 furlongs to win the Group 3 Gallinule Stakes, beating Giovanni Canaletto by a neck, and Giovanni Canaletto ran a big race in the Derby to finish fourth after just a two-week break.

Curvy showed a lot of courage that day, and she finished off her race as if she would appreciate going up in trip. It looked like the colt was going to get to her, but she pulled out a little more inside the final 50 yards, and she was in front at the pull-up.

More importantly, she is by Galileo, and she is a half-sister to Power, who won the Irish Guineas, and to Thakafaat, who won the Ribblesdale in 2005. She should improve for stepping up in trip. And Ryan Moore takes over in the saddle. Not that Wayne Lordan isn’t a good rider, because he is, but Ryan Moore is probably the best rider in the world.

CURVY WON (ADV 7/1, SP 9/2)