Equinties - new script

Gm Equinauts

Barstool sports founder Dave Portnoy gave a very good interview at Saratoga this week. He was underbid on a grey horse he probably knew about (he just tries to buy greys for his stable Go Go Grey’s) and didn’t hide his displeasure to Bob Baffert who came up behind him and patted him on the back mid-interview.

Portnoy shouted to winning bidder Bob Baffert “I hope it stinks!”.

Imagine that at Tatts lmao!

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

NEW SCRIPT

It was all a bit disappointing when GHOSTWRITER was withdrawn from the Group 2 Princess Of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket last month, as he would have been a very interesting contender. Of course, the main thing was that he was all okay having reared over in the hour leading up to his big target, but if he didn’t do this, he would have probably gone quite close to winning, based on everything we have seen from him.

Still, he didn’t race, and since that day at Newmarket, the now Amo Racing-owned four-year-old has been moved from Clive Cox to Kevin Philippart de Foy in their efforts to consolidate.

Ever since Philippart de Foy was announced as the new number one Amo Racing trainer, we all knew that he was going to be picking up more established horses for the purple silks of Kia Joprabchian, but GHOSTWRITER was maybe one we didn’t expect.

Why? Well, he’s four, Cox knows him inside out, and Joorabchian wasn’t jumping at the idea of switching his yard when he bought the horse in June. Still, Joorabchian did send him to de Foy, and we now have a rough idea about what the rest of his year is going to look like.

In a piece with Thoroughbred Daily News, Philippart de Foy said: “Ghostwriter is a really exciting horse, Clive has done an excellent job with him and now we just need to carry on that work.

“There will be some exciting winter targets and he is a horse that is probably going to be travelling over the winter and into next year as well.

“The idea for him is to become that high-profile flagbearer for the yard. We're just going to let him settle in and get used to surroundings and take our time with him.

“He's a highly-talented horse and we want to do everything right by him and once he tells us he's ready to run, we'll get him to the races.”

So, if he is going to be this international flag bearer, what races could he take in?

LORD NORTH, trained by the Gosdens, was always a horse who prepped for the Dubai World Cup via the Winter Derby. Maybe he could do something similar? That would fit Philippart de Foy’s comments about him being a horse who could travel this winter and into next year, but Cox was keen to try him at 1m4f this season rather than 1m2f, which is a trip he has more experience at. Would dropping him back down to 1m1f be the move?

Or, could he go down a slightly different route? On a similar train of thought to the Dubai World Cup, could the Saudi Cup, the world’s richest horse race, be in contention? This occurs in late February every year over 1m2f, so connections know he has proven he likes this trip before.

However, if he is potentially showing signs of being a 1m4f horse at home - which we have to think is true based on this season - might connections look at the Sheema Classic on Dubai World Cup Night? This is over 1m4f, so it would probably suit him a bit more than 1m1f, and the race is still worth $6 million.

Even if Philippart de Foy hasn’t explicitly mentioned any races for him, some of these contests would seem the most likely options to us, with our preference going to the Sheema Classic.

LOVING MELBOURNE

Joseph O’Brien and his race planner Kevin Blake love plotting horses on foreign soil.

AL RIFFA is a horse they’ve used for these exploits in recent years. He’s raced in Ireland, England, Saratoga, Saudi Arabia, and Germany, the latter of which saw him impressively win a Group 1.

He’s not the only one, but he is certainly the most high-profile Joseph O’Brien horse to do so, and he could have another coming through the ranks. That’s because SONS AND LOVERS won the Group 3 Ballyroan Stakes yesterday, and O’Brien has eyes on the Melbourne Cup.

On Melbourne, he said: “I think a she goes up in trip, we’ll see some more progression.

“He could be a Melbourne Cup horse. He meets the qualification now being a Group winner. As well as Melbourne, there are a number of international races that could potentially suit him through the winter.

“We’ll see how he comes out of today, but my immediate thought would be to come back here on Champions Day for the 1m4f Group 3 as that would be a logical stepping stone from here, and then we could look at travelling from there.”
Joseph is clearly quite bullish of a prosperous international stint with SONS AND LOVERS, and that is bold.

When with Jane Chapple-Hyam, he only won his debut maiden across his eight runs, and yesterday’s success was just his second career win.
So, for him to then be a Melbourne Cup horse - or even one for those big international races - is potentially a stretch.
Maybe he is improving, but he needs to be in our eyes. Best of luck, connections.

BIG AND BOLD

It’s the Shergar Cup this weekend. Snooze. That can be the problem with racing sometimes - a good week/weekend is followed by a fairly average one and the Shergar Cup being on our screens this weekend is enough of an excuse for us to talk about the jumps (boo).

Yesterday we were told that THE BIG WESTERNER will go over fences this season.

This has been the long-term plan, and she was very much a case of ‘whatever she does over hurdles’ etc, but her rough plan has been outlined, and we like it. Battle her own gender on her chasing debut, and if all goes well, head to the Faugheen to pick up potential Grade 1 black type in a winnable race. The ground is usually soft/heavy, which would work for THE BIG WESTERNER, and it doesn’t tend to be the most competitive in the world.

An interesting question was posed yesterday, and it involved Cheltenham (yes, we know). Of course, this is miles away, but what race would you run THE BIG WESTERNER in at the Cheltenham Festival, assuming all has gone well with her season?

Looking from the owners’ POV, we’d go with the Mares’ Chase. It would be great to see a mare take on something like the Browns, but for the owners (who don’t shirk from challenges, in fairness), you get to try a 2m5f chase on the new course against girls. The Mares’ Chase is a contest she’d have a genuine chance in - the Browns would put her right up against it.

Anyway, that’s enough jumps chat for one day. Yuk!

STATS OF THE DAY

Two seconds in a row for this section but boy oh boy was VINCE LAMOUR close last night at a mammoth 20/1:

Today, Shaggas sends ANOTHER ABBOTT to compete in Brighton’s 15.30. Shaggas is 4 from 4 in these types of races at track and more, Marquand is 4 from 7 for the yard on course.

RISK ON

17.55 EVOLUTIONIST & 18.30 GOUKEN & GUARDMAN

Three horses, two ew doubles. Burke’s was well fancied on debut but got the hang of things too late. Will know more today and with that run under her belt should be the one to beat at 11/4. We playing her in two ew doubles with GOUKEN and GUARDSMAN. The former was a beauty in the parade ring at Newbury and put him in our weekend eye-catchers section a few weeks ago. Message for GUARDSMAN who is supposed to be very good. Both doubles paying 12’s.

19.05 EQUIANO SPRINGS

We love this lad but when he didn’t win last year thought he might be finished. Looking back that was a harsh assessment and at 11yo, horses are still as fit and strong as when they were 4yo - if handled well! We think he’s well handicapped to go close today if not win at 14/1.