Equinties - Derby horse

Gm Equinauts

The jumps may be in full swing and punters are already dreaming of March (boring),

but it’s the Derby markets that took a decided shift yesterday as PIERRE BONNARD coasted in over France and put his hand up as Ballydoyle Derby horse for next year.

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

DERBY HYPE

Big PB has come onto the scene fairly late, having not gone through the traditional Guineas/Derby routes, like the Dewhurst and Futurity, but what he has done is win the Group 3 Zetland Stakes easily and then Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud yesterday.

Catching plenty of people’s eye by what he did Newmarket earlier this month, and he’s now gone on to frank his ability by winning a Group 1. It’s probably the worst Group 1 in the whole European calendar, granted, but yesterday’s win does mean he is now 7/1 for next year’s Epsom Derby and there seems to be a lot of positives around this horse.

He’s three from four, his pedigree isn’t half bad being by CAMELOT out of Gr1 winner SULTANINA, and the chat is (as expected) quite bullish from the camp. Of course, Aidan O’Brien would do a good job of saying that the stable cat could be the “best we’ve ever seen”, so everything he says has to be taken with a micrometre of salt, but even Christophe ‘super’ Soumillon is joining in!

O’Brien said: “Obviously he’s a Derby horse and we’ll start him in a Derby trial and all he should do is get better. He’s a beautiful horse with a long stride and a beautiful mind. And he stays very well so he’s very exciting for next year.

“I think he could be even higher quality [than LOS ANGELES, his last Criterium de Saint-Cloud winner]. Christophe was always raving about this horse. When he rode him at Newmarket he was very taken by him and the same here today. He said he has a lot of class.”

And Soumillon said: “On the turn I was very aware I didn’t want to get caught for a turn of foot because he's a horse who can sustain his finishing effort but is still a little bit immature. 

“Fortunately we went a decent gallop and he was very comfortable with the rhythm. He takes a little bit of time to get going so I was keen to launch my challenge early. But the way he finished, what joy!”

It’s hard to really put a strong opinion on PIERRE BONNARD’s head, because we really don’t know how good he could be. He isn’t this horse that Ballydoyle have been raving about for months (like CITY OF TROY who was the ultimate hype horse), and is the chat around him just so positive because they don’t yet have another proper Derby horse in the yard?

He’s very unexposed making it hard to know what he’s beaten, because he hasn’t really taken on a good horses yet and rurthermore, he’s gone from being a ‘dark horse for the 2026 Derby’ to being the favourite in the space of two weeks. Those sharp judges who were putting him up for the Derby after the Zetland either have a really good docket in their pocket, or they’re annoyed that the didn’t act fast enough.

Next year will be very interesting for him, and he adds himself to a decent enough Ballydoyle team of potential Classic horses for 2026. PRECISE is leading the way for the fillies, and PUERTO RICO is now the 2000 Guineas favourite after his win at Saint-Cloud yesterday.

There’s also the enigma that is ALBERT EINSTEIN to consider as well.

TARGETS AND MORE TARGETS

The feature race at Cheltenham on Saturday was the Masterson Holdings Hurdle. It was a good race to watch, but as for its prominence on the season as a whole, it’s not really worth talking about.

However, there are plenty of storylines from Saturday that are worth mentioning.
Let’s start with the one that could relate to the Festival. CONMAN JOHN, in the AHOY SENOR colours, put in a very nice performance in the three-mile novice hurdle to put his name forward for the Albert Bartlett.

Lucinda Russell knows the time of day when it comes to the staying novices. Whether it’s hurdles or fences, horses like AHOY SENOR and DERRYHASSEN PADDY have shown that she knows how to get the best out of them.

The way he and GREAT FLEET, for the Skeltons, went away from the field was very impressive, and Derek Fox did not look too concerned rounding the corner. We’re very early in the season, but Russell is working back from the Bartlett, and he’s started his charge towards it on good style.

Speaking of the Festival, MA SHANTOU looked like a horse who had 10lbs in hand when winning the Pertemps qualifier:

Pertemps Qualifier winners have an awful record when it comes to the Final in March, but we’re not worried about that. The race for him is the big three-mile handicap hurdle on Betfair Chase Day, and the handicapper can’t be too harsh for what he did on Saturday, even if he was impressive on the eye.

He was very well-handicapped this weekend, and even Emma Lavelle knows it, as she said: “The race at Haydock is in the back of my mind; it's about six weeks away. "He could just be quite good this horse, he's done that really well. He was really well supported but that might be because he was just so well in."

He’s very much on the radar for the race, even if he will have a higher rating. He was campaigned like a Graded novice hurdler last season, and his win on Saturday boosts the form of MOON ROCKET, YELLOW CAR, and all the Bartlett runners.

Finally, Anthony Honeyball had a fairly decent weekend thanks to good runs from BROOKIE and CREST OF FORTUNE at Cheltenham. He got his Prestbury Park winner with LEAVE OF ABSENCE in the 3m1f ‘Chasing Excellence’ novice chase, and even though the race was a bit weird (PIED PIPER looked like the winner until finding nothing), Honeyball has big plans. He said: “He could run in the Coral Gold Cup and that'd be his most likely next race. He'd have quite a nice profile for it as a flat track suits him well.

"It was a lovely performance. In the Reynoldstown last season his jumping was a bit erratic, but that was much more positive. It was a nice pot so it's like winning a nice handicap."

He could well be anything as he’s still a bit unexposed from last season, but PIED PIPER nearly beat him in a 3m1f novice chase.

The form can be questioned because of that, and also the likes of WELCOM TO CARTRIES and INTENSE APPROACH probably needed the run. They’ll be better-handicapped horses at the Coral Gold Cup, we think.

WEEKEND EYE-CATCHERS

UNEXPECTED PARTY - FRIDAY 15.35 CHELTENHAM

DOUBLE POWERFUL - SATURDAY 13.10 CHELTENHAM

There were a few horses that caught the eye in the opening race at Cheltenham on Saturday. MAJOR FORTUNE will certainly be a nice horse to follow this season when he drops in the handicap, and CREST OF FORTUNE is progressive, but DOUBLE POWERFUL just edges them both. He came from so far back to finish third, and this was over 2m4f. At the Aintree Grand National Festival, he stepped up to three miles nicely, so he will eventually go back to this trip and probably improve for it over fences.
He jumped as well as one could hope for a chasing debut, and there’s probably still room to manoeuvre off 134 going forward. Nice horse for Neil Mulholland.

SPADESTEP - SUNDAY 13.15 AINTREE

The team around SPADESTEP have clearly liked this horse for a while, as he was sent off 1/4 to win a novice hurdle at Hexham earlier this month, and Lucinda Russell & Michael Scudamore decided to save time by sending over fences yesterday.
He went off 11/8 for his chasing debut in the two-mile novices’ limited handicap chase, and for 90% of the race, he looked like the winner. He travelled well under Derek Fox, and he was lobbing before the last. However, he had potentially been out in front for too long, as by the time they jumped the last, JORDANS CROSS went past quickly and held on. SPADESTEP did kind of stay one once he was eye-balled, but it wasn’t enough.
He will be winning races off 114, or something similar, soon, and maybe even a step up in trip could do.

RISK ON

A very tough punting day today especially the good ground at Bangor, but there is one strong one:

13.00 NIGHT WOLF

Strong bet for us. His debut form is well clear of the others and we know Overnighter’s took the early prices but evens is a good bet now. This lad could be the horse to put the yard firmly on the map for next year. Strong play for us. Evens every where but Bet365.

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