Equinties - more propaganda

Author

BGP Capital
May 29, 2024

Equinties

Gm Equinauts

GALILEO in ‘01, HIGH CHAPARRAL in ‘02, MOTIVATOR in ‘05, SIR PERCY in ‘06, AUTHORIZED in ‘07, NEW APPROACH in ‘08, SEA THE STARS in ‘09, WORK FORCE in ‘10 (the fastest Derby ever), POUR MOI in ‘11, CAMELOT in ‘12, AUSTRALIA in ‘14, GOLDEN HORN in’15 and MASAR in ‘18 …

It’s safe to say that in more (recent) years than not, the Derby is a stallion making race. That’s why it’s the big one. That’s why it’s history defining and as such so, so important for the horse racing industry. In fact, it’s odd to get a year where the result buck’s the trend - a year where there won’t be a winning star go on to demand an obscene covering fee and change the shape of the future of racing.

The palpable anticipation from racing fans and racing industry people alike is built purely on the basis that absolutely no one knows whether this is going to be a non-event, a race people will skim quickly over in the history books when searching for races that made a stallion.

People are questioning the unusual propaganda sent out by Coolmore this week and rightly so, it stinks.

All eyes will be on the Derby this weekend. Let’s hope it springs a nice surprise … and we don’t mean a surprise result.

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

THE BIG CITY

As we alluded to yesterday, lot of the focus will be on the Oaks and the Derby this week, and so it should be. The Epsom Derby still is the biggest Flat race the UK has thanks to its unique setting and stallion-making, equine quality.

Naturally, like he did ahead of the Guineas, CITY OF TROY, is grabbing a lot of the headlines, but yesterday he created one that fans of his didn’t want to see.

The Champion 2yo drifted out to 4.8 on the machine yesterday and his stablemate, LOS ANGELES, finished Monday night at 5.1 having been a double-figure price not too long ago.

As journalists looked around to find out the reason for the drift, Jack Keene from The Sun got the official word from Aidan O’Brien.

And that “lovely piece of work” was shortly posted onto Racing X.

The horse he beat in his piece of work? CHEMISTRY, a Curragh maiden winner who ran to an RPR of 84 during his success.

So, what’s the deal with CITY OF TROY?

A lot of people suggested earlier in the season that Coolmore and O’Brien were hyping this horse up for stallion purposes in his season career. While they are always going to hype up any promising horse while they are still racing with an eye to their time at stud, this particular case study seems different to the others.

From the insistence to measure the horse at 15.2 to saying he’s the best horse we’ve ever taken into a Classic and now the sharing of important pieces of work, something doesn’t seem quite on the money here.

We for one can’t wait for Saturday just to see

(INISHER)IN THE CUP

After the solid performance of INISHERIN in the Group 2 Sandy Lane Stakes on the weekend, connections have confirmed they want to supplement the SHAMARDAL colt for the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.

We shared our thoughts on INISHERIN in Monday’s newsletter, but his involvement in the Commonwealth Cup adds another very interesting factor into an already great race.

RIVER TIBER, VANDEEK, ELITE STATUS, BUCANERO FUERTE, and JASOUR could all turn up to the Group 1 six-furlong contest, a race that in recent years has been the shining light of Royal Ascot.

As for INISHERIN, Adam Ryan, assistant to his father Kevin, said: “The Commonwealth Cup is the plan – it’s the obvious route to go down after that performance. When you run in a trial and win impressively like that, it looks the right call.

“Sheikh Obaid also has Elite Status in the race, so there was a query over whether he wanted to supplement Inisherin or not, but that is the way he would like to go and we’re very happy to be going that way.”

MISSING COURAGE 

As hinted at last week, it’s since been confirmed that COURAGE MON AMI will miss Royal Ascot this year, meaning we will have a new winner of the Ascot Gold Cup.

Richard Brown, racing adviser to the Wathnan Racing, said: "It’s unfortunate timing, but thankfully not a serious setback and we are very hopeful he will be back to contest Cup races later in the year.

"Courage Mon Ami gave Wathnan such a brilliant start last year, and we will miss him on Gold Cup day. We’ll be pinning all our hopes that Gregory will prove an able deputy."

RISK ON

A bad double yesterday was a surprise result when we thought they were good things. Tough but the strong bet we’re waiting on (runs tomorrow) will repair that.

No risk on yet, but there will be a bet today post on X @equinties.