Equinties - the Brocklesby King

Gm Equinauts

BAAEED was an absolute monster. We’re really looking forward to his first runners on the ground!

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

FULL BALLYDOYLE FAITH

WHIRL, MINNIE HAUK, LAMBOURN, LOS ANGELES, DELACROIX, and JAN BRUEGHEL. These are the horses Aidan O’Brien has prominent in the betting for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

After WHIRL won the Group 1 Nassau Stakes at Glorious Goodwood, it became apparent that he had a strong team for Longchamp this year, but quite how many will he be taking to the season-defining contest?

It’s obviously hard to speculate when it comes to Ballydoyle inmates, but here are a few thoughts on just some of the aforementioned horses.

WHIRL is the shortest-priced runner of the Ballydoyle team at this stage, but she was handed an entry for the Cox Plate recently, and O’Brien mentioned America and Hong Kong. Might she be the globe-trotter?

DELACROIX looks a bit more of a 1m2f specialist, and because of this, O’Brien may be hesitant to try 1m4f again unless he has to.

Nothing too much has been said about MINNIE HAUK and LAMBOURN regarding the Arc, and both have bigger – and more immediate – targets. The Yorkshire Oaks for MINNIE HAUK and potentially the Great Voltigeur for LAMBOURN.

They could go, but all will probably depend on their next run, and JAN BRUEGHEL could turn into a Cup horse in time. He does hold an entry for the Long Distance Cup on Champions Day, after all.

That leaves LOS ANGELES, the horse that has always been Arc-bound this season.
He was ante-post favourite for the race around the time of the Tattersalls Gold Cup, but after he was stuffed in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, he has been readily available at 16/1. We haven’t seen him since Royal Ascot, but it seems like O’Brien hasn’t lost his faith in the CAMELOT colt. He was third in the Arc last year, and his form with ANMAAT, KALPANA, and ECONOMICS is pretty hot.

Well, we could see him again this weekend on his road to Longchamp in October, as O’Brien said: "There's a good chance you will see Los Angeles on Saturday. He's just ready to start back again now and the plan is to run. It's his first run back after Ascot and there will be a lot of improvement to come from it.

"We're working back from the Arc with him so this is the first step back on the way there. We've always had the Arc as his main aim all season, and that remains the case. The plan would be to go to the Curragh and then maybe on to the Prix Foy on the way.”

Let’s get our tin foil hats on. Aidan is a master at target training. We saw it with JAN BRUGHEL in the Coronation Cup, and we could well see it again with LOS ANGELES in the Arc.

Yes, he has to prove himself after Ascot, but cast your minds back to the 30 minutes leading up to the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes. Ballydoyle couldn’t have him beat, and they got their race tactics wrong as well.

He’s now had a mid-season break, and it sounds like he will come on a bunch for this weekend. They are prepping him for one day, and we all know he is the confirmed Ballydoyle Arc horse.

There is a degree of ambiguity around the rest of the potential Ballydoyle Arc horses, but this lad has been the talk of the Coolmore town regarding the Arc. Is that almost a tip in itself for him in the Longchamp showpiece?

It could well be, and if so, that 20/1 available could look very big.

FRANKING FORM

We learnt three things from MORRIS DANCER’s success in yesterday’s Listed Stonehenge Stakes.

PALACE PIER is having a good first season as a sire, MORRIS DANCER could prove to be quite useful this and next season, and ZAVATERI could be a right one.

We’ll do more on PALACE PIER very soon (maybe next Friday?), but let’s talk about the other two statements one by one.

So, MORRIS DANCER and his high head carriage won the Stonehenge Stakes yesterday, and the way he lengthened away at the finish was very impressive. It was only a three-runner affair, granted, but Clive Cox sent A BIT OF SPIRIT off as the odds-on favourite despite MORRIS DANCER’s proven Group-level form, so there must have been a fair bit of confidence from the Cox camp.

With his form and his visual positives, he is truly a horse on the up, and he has Group 2 and Group 1 entries for later this season. Joint-trainer Thady Gosden said: "It was a good race, the second is a smart horse who ran well at Ascot last time out. He was finishing well at Goodwood and the step up to a mile suited him. He's still learning, it's only his fourth start, he was a bit green in front so hopefully he can take another step forward.

"He's not the tallest but he's got plenty of strength. He just bounced out of Goodwood and was doing all his best work late and, with the ground in good condition, we thought we'd come here. It's fantastic for his sire Palace Pier, who's going great guns.

"We've put him in the Champagne and could drop him back in trip. We'll see how he comes out of this and make a plan."

Classic Thady – not giving much away about the future.

But still, he has to be an outside shot for the Classics next season, and let’s not forget that he came from a mile back to finish second to ZAVATERI in the Vintage Stakes.

Speaking of ZAVATERI, he has now obviously received a big form boost, and we can only imagine how giddy Eve Johnson Houghton was this morning in her office.

Yes, Eve can be a bit coo-coo sometimes, but she ultimately does tell it straight quite often. Most of the time, she says when her horses are at their level, or if they are potential rising stars. She probably hasn’t had to worry about the latter too much, but with ZAVATERI, she has repeatedly banged on the door about him being a proper one, and his form is working out nicely.

Classic contender next season? He has to prove his ability at a mile, but he went away at the line when MORRIS DANCER eye-balled him at Goodwood, so he could well have that stamina locked away somewhere.

STICKING TO HURDLES

And finally, bits of jump news keep popping up currently, so let’s highlight them here.
Interestingly, the Stayers’ Hurdle scene could have two new faces to consider this season, as EAST INDIA DOCK and POTTERS CHARM could be entering this sphere.

At the time of writing, the EAST INDIA DOCK is confirmed, but the POTTERS CHARM news of sticking to hurdles is only a rumour. However, maybe the Twisters have had a look at POTTERS CHARM over fences at home and realised that he jumps fences like a wardrobe?

We all know the Stayers’ Hurdle scene has been a bit crocked for a while. Just look at last season.

HIDDENVALLEY LAKE came from nowhere to land the Liverpool Hurdle, CRAMBO did something very similar in the Long Walk Hurdle, BOB OLINGER won the Stayers’ Hurdle at 8/1, and STRONG LEADER did a good job of not building on his Long Distance Hurdle success. What a mess.

So, maybe trainers are happy to take a pop at the division this season with some horses who could go over fences? Now, does this theory apply to EAST INDIA DOCK and POTTERS CHARM? Um, not really.

EAST INDIA DOCK is a dual-purpose horse, and how many dual-purpose horses go over fences? The answer is not many. James Owen may as well give him a break to avoid winter ground after the Cesarewitch and then bring him back in the new year for a crack at the Stayers’ Hurdle. He is a horse who relaxes in his races, though his Triumph Hurdle effort didn’t scream like ‘three miles’. Maybe he’s showing something at home that we’ve not seen? After all, Triumph Hurdle horses do tend to stay a bit further in time.

As for POTTERS CHARM, this does reek of negativity. Ged Mason, one of his part owners, billed him as a potential Gold Cup horse for the future last season, so they were very bullish at the time. Fast-forward less than 10 months and he is now going to stick to hurdles after two poor efforts at the end of last season? Hmm. Let’s see if any official word comes out soon, but this next season will be interesting for POTTERS CHARM. Did that Trials Day run leave any lasting effects?

RISK ON

We’ll play the stat horse today plus:

FAVES TREBLE

14.10 CATCHING THE MOON, 16.00 RADIANCE & 18.45 DARTEY - all short but all look like they should get the job done. It’s hard enough to find one winning better so the chances of all three winning are slim, so small stake advised. 5/1 and 18/1 four fold with the stat horse.

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