In France they kiss on main street

Just one question as we approach another Oaks and Derby at Epsom: what have we done to deserve such a dull pattern of Group races leading up to our big occasion?

Great Britain is the senior partner in the European Pattern, hosting comfortably more Group races than any other constituent. But when it comes to early 3 year old events over middle distances, consider how we compare to France.

In addition to the 2000 Guineas, which is a recognised trial, the following Group races lead us to the Derby:

• Classic Trial – Sandown (10f)
• Chester Vase – Chester (12f)
• Dante – York (10.5f)

For the fillies it’s an even sorrier tale, with just a solitary Group race beyond a mile taking us to the Oaks:

• Musidora – York (10.5f)

Feeble.

In contrast, the French lay on these Group races for 3 year old colts in the run up to the Prix du Jockey Club:

• Prix la Force – Longchamp (10f)
• Prix Noailles – Longchamp (10.5f)
• Prix Greffulhe – St-Cloud (10f)
• Prix Hocquart – Longchamp (11f)
• Prix de Guiche – Chantilly (9f)

And for the fillies before the Prix  de Diane:

• Prix Penelope – St-Cloud (10.5f)
• Prix Vanteaux – Longchamp (9f)
• Prix Cleopatre – St-Cloud (10.5f)
• Prix St-Alary – Longchamp (10f)
• Prix de Royaumont – Chantilly (12f)

That’s 10 French Group races to Britain’s 4.

Maybe there isn’t enough quality in our own stock to support a Pattern comparable to our French friends.  The Derby Trial at Lingfield lost its Group 3 status in 2013 and this year the Dee Stakes followed suit.

But then wasn’t it always faintly ridiculous having two Derby trials in the Pattern run ’round the dog track of Chester?  Why isn’t there a proper trial at Ascot? Or Newbury?

Couldn’t we have a fundamental rethink here?  Cull a few Listed events if necessary. We could start at the Newbury Greenham meeting and take it from there.  We really could do with a more compelling narrative leading to what is, after all, our most prestigious Classic weekend.

King of all the Weld – as they say in Essex

The first big Irish weekend is here, and for all the usual personal petty motives I’ll be hoping that Mustajeeb goes close in the Irish 2,000.

The purist on the other hand, whose motives are brilliantly unblemished, hopes to see Kingman finally fulfil his Classic destiny.  And sometimes I can count myself a purist too.

Mustajeeb was trounced by War Command in last year’s Futurity, and maybe he’ll be trounced by that same horse again tomorrow.

It was his racecourse reappearance that teased the imagination when, in the Amethyst Stakes, he reeled in some decent older horses with barely a flick of the whip:

 

Cue the student who accounts for the run by reminding us about the progeny of Nayef and how they improve with age.  One day I’ll have to check – or ask someone if they’ve checked – the truth in that statement.

It’s difficult sometimes not to be so partial about the game, and I can’t help myself when it comes to Coolmore. Their dominance in Ireland I find mundane.  It’s a bit like that time in the 80s when I couldn’t stand Steve Davis until he started losing at snooker.

We all know that Aidan O’Brien’s horses need their first run, but even so! Look at what Dermot Weld –  Mustajeeb’s trainer – has been up to.  Winner of seven of the 11 Pattern races run in Ireland so far!

Dermot Weld – the bully of Ballybrit, who won his first Group race in 1974 for fuck’s sake. The trainer who couldn’t win the Champion Bumper for all the tea in China, and not for the want of trying.  So by the time Silver Concorde finally put the record straight this year, most punters readily gave up the chance of backing a Weld horse at 16/1.

Other, better informed aficionados can judge Weld’s lifetime achievements.  My admiration for him is less about the fact that he won six Irish Legers with two horses, and more about the fact that he trained the winner of the Belmont Stakes.  Or that he trained the winner of the Melbourne Cup – twice!

All those Group 3s he’s already bagged this year have been won by three year olds, so Dermot Weld has a lot to look forward to in his 66th year.  No doubt he’d love to win an Epsom Derby or an Arc before he calls it a day.  But with just two Group 1s to his name in the last three years, the cold truth is that it’s tough enough for any Irishman these days to win anything at the highest level against the empire of Magnier.

Best German miler since Thomas Wessinghage?

There are seven Group 1 races in Germany: five over 12f, one over 11f – and the other (at 10f) isn’t exactly a test of speed.

No surprise, then, that their international stars tend to excel at the mile and a half trip.  It’s not long ago that Danedream pronged both King George & Arc, and it was a shame that Novellist, an easy King George winner, was denied a run against Treve in last year’s Arc.

Good sprinters and milers don’t come out of Germany – do they?

Their 2,000 Guineas (the Mehl-Mulhens-Rennen), run over the Cologne mile tomorrow, is only a Group 2.    Foreign raiders have won the last four and eight of the last 15.

If you look at those eight winners (Pacino, Dupont, Brunel, Royal Power, Frozen Power, Excelebration, Caspar Netscher, Peace At Last) only Excelebration was a proper Group 1 horse.  He won this in 2011 by 7 lengths at what must have been gift-wrapped odds of 2/1. But generally, you’ve been able to come here and win this with a Listed horse.

Perhaps that’s why the German-trained LUCKY LION isn’t shorter than 17/10 for tomorrow’s event.  This is a virtual re-run of the Dr Busch-Memorial, and that’s a race worth watching for the ease with which Lucky Lion came home:

 

Maybe he’s good, or maybe he’s just a good bit better than a sorry crop.  We’ll know more after tomorrow.

There are only two raiders this year:

(1) Michael Appleby’s Cordite, a maiden winner beaten out of sight in this season’s Listed Feilden Stakes; and

(2) the more intriguing Wilshire Boulevard, who’s moved from the powerhouse of Coolmore to the Bettina Wilson barn in Denmark.  Kept busy as a juvenile, he won the Group 3 Anglesey  Stakes and wasn’t too far behind Karakontie in the Group 1 Jean-Luc Lagardere.  It’s tricky to know with any certainty what he’ll produce tomorrow (he didn’t win his prep for this), but heavy supporters of Lucky Lion may consider taking a little insurance at 9/1.

Hopefully a few more bookies will take a passing interest in the race and price it up before the off.