22nd-Jun-2019

It is a pity that Lah Ti Dar has come out of the Hardwicke Stakes, as there will now be a Rule 4 deduction to our bet on Defoe. I think that he would have had her measure anyway, she was behind him in the Coronation Cup, and she was behind Kew Gardens in the St Leger, and Kew Gardens was behind Defoe in the Coronation Cup.

I’m not sure that Defoe got due credit for winning the Coronation Cup. He battled on well to get the better of a good horse in Kew Gardens, and the pair of them came nicely clear of Salouen, another talented individual who goes well at Epsom.

Defoe is five, but he is nicely progressive now. That was a career-best run from him at Epsom, just his third run of the season and his third run since being gelded. There is every chance that he can come forward again now today.

Masar is obviously a big danger, or he will be if he can get back to his Derby winning form. But he hasn’t run since he won the Derby, and you just feel that, if connections were happy that he was back to that level, they would have run him in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes instead of here in the Hardwicke, just a Group 2 race.

Morando would surely have preferred softer ground, but Mirage Dancer is a player. I just think that Defoe is a better horse now.

DEFOE WON (ADV 4/1 [RULE 4], SP 11/4)