Dubious Sounding Excuse For Frankie Deserting Foundation

[stevecaution]

On the face of it, it’s a no brainer.

You have the choice of two mounts in the biggest trial for The Derby.

The Dante Stakes at York sees Frankie Dettori initially jocked up on two colts in the declarations. They are Foundation, a 110 rated Royal Lodge winner and Wings Of Desire, an 88 rated Wolverhampton maiden winner.

With the speculation about which one Frankie will ride, the betting market sees Wings Of Desire backed in and Foundation, an original 7/2 shot for the race goes out to 6/1 with all the appeal of a scabby Leper to punters.

As the betting indicates, it is revealed that Frankie is on board Wings Of Desire and you feel a Stewards Enquiry klaxon going off in your head.

Wings Of Desire was third on his debut, behind Winning Story, who was stone last in Lingfield Derby Trial next time. The Gosden colt then won a Wolverhampton maiden over 1m 4f at odds of 8/15. That maiden has seen both runners since then unplaced and Wings Of Desire now drops in trip and up in class. To me he makes no appeal whatever tackling the Derby favourite.

Foundation won the Royal Lodge and was unlucky in the Racing Post Trophy, as Frankie managed to get trapped behind horses in a seven runner race. He was then turned over in the Craven at odds on, with part of the reason for defeat being blamed on the awful weather conditions. With a stone and a half in hand on ratings, surely Frankie has to ride the horse going up in trip at York on what looks to be good ground?

Harry Herbert explained the reasons for Frankie riding Wings Of Desire in what seems to be a first for me in terms of generosity towards another owner and I am not buying into this at all:-

“Frankie rides the other one because John has got Lady Bamford’s horse, obviously off a much lower rating, but he’s a very nice horse and Frankie needs to see if he is potentially Derby material or not. He knows Foundation,” said Harry Herbert, Highclere’s racing manager.

“He’s not getting off Foundation because he thinks the other horse is going to beat Foundation. It’s purely for it to be a good guide for John and even if Foundation won, he is no certainty to go to the Derby.

If anyone recalls the Scottish Comedy series Chewin’ The Fat, they may have seen the Karen Dunbar character who would respond to sceptical claims by stating “I smell shi**, definitely shi**”

I strongly suspect Foundation’s Craven run is as good as he is now and he probably hasn’t trained on.

Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.

[Jonibake]

Frankie is appalling at choosing anyway. I almost always go for the one he doesn’t choose (witness Shalaa last year and Wings of Desire at Newmarket)

"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"

[LostSoldier3]

There’s your answer.

[stevecaution]

LostSoldier3 wrote:

There’s your answer.

I couldn’t find a match bet on Foundation vs Wings Of Desire, or I would have been on Frankie’s horse of the two.

Does Harry Herbert really think that people’s heads button up the back?

That statement of his was definitely in the Donald Rumsfeld “Known knowns and unknown knowns” territory, along with the known unknowns of course.

“A whiff of excrement pervaded the ambience” Hamlet Act 2 Scene 3 (Wullie Shakespeare)

Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.

[Author]

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