NAP AND DOUBLE UP: Our lucky Shamrock struck again yesterday with nap, Sorcerer (WON 11-4), and next best, Ainama (WON 11-10), for a near 7-1 double. There is no racing in Ireland today but tips for Newton Abbot are at the foot of the column.
What price Ballydoyle for the 2012 Classics? If the numbers are any indication, Aidan O’Brien has strength in depth for next year, witness his 28 entries for the Group-2 Beresford Stakes two-year-old test on Sunday.
Born To Sea, the Sea The Stars half-brother, currently top spot in the market for the Newmarket 2,000 Guineas, is likely to miss the Beresford in favour of the Killavullan at Leopardstown at the end of October.
But it’s a tough teaser for John Oxx: what to do with a precocious two-year-old when you want him to develop slowly as a Classic prospect?
There’s many a trainer, in England and Ireland, who would be tempted to use him up in a series of top juvenile contests on both islands, and Oxx says he’s been holding on to Born To Sea since April!
Meanwhile, the Beresford entries serve as an ABC guide to the Ballydoyle fire-power. A is for unraced After The Storm, Among Equals (won at Cork), Astrology (third in the Curragh Futurity) and Athens (soft-ground success at Listowel). So far I’d say we have a solid yardstick, Astrology.
B is for Battle Of Saratoga, stone last in the Acomb Stakes at York and Buckingham Gate. Now you’re talking! Buckingham Gate is the first Galileo in the pack with his dam a sister to Rock of Gibraltar. Gate way to the Classics?
C is for Leopardstown winner, Camelot; for Canary Wharf and Choir, only fourth in the Railway Stakes. D is for Daddy Long Legs, also only a marker after his well-beaten fourth in the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster, and David Livingstone, exposed but a decent third to Power in the National Stakes. Any one, or all of them, could improve, of course.
East Meets West didn’t justify an attempt at the Acomb Stakes and was too far behind to help as a yardstick. Fort Sam Houston has also disappointed and Furner’s Green was a neck behind David Livingston in the National Stakes.
I is for Imperial Monarch, another Galileo. He beat Azamata first time up and that one was third in the big sales race at Fairyhouse on Sunday. Good collateral form but not earth shattering. Learn is another Galileo winner, who should stay up to 1m 6f next season.
M is for Mannheim (third to stablemate Astrology at Leopardstown) and Minimise Risk, and N is for Noah Webster. Minimise Risk and Noah Webster, both Galileos, are bred to stay middle distances through the dam’s side.
R is for Requisition, an Invincible Spirit out of an Irish 1,000 Guineas winner, and S is for the long-time yardstick Secretary of State, who’s had seven races already and won one.
He was runner-up to stablemate Triumphant. Tenth Star and Vault are also pretty much exposed. Wimpole Street will need to improve, and Wrote is a nursery winner.
T is for three I’ve missed out, all unraced: Thomasgainsborough, Tibet and Tower Rock, none of whom appeal on breeding like Buckingham Gate, who is my tip for the top.
SHAMROCK’S BETS
NAP: Dream Function (2.10 Newton Abbot)
NEXT BEST: Colditz (4.40 Newton Abbot)
OUTSIDER: none today
DAQ TRIO: Dream Function (2.10 Newton Abbot), Bobs Law (3.10 Newton Abbot), Colditz (4.40 Newton Abbot)
