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It was a one runner race.
A fluke Irish Derby winner was second. The third underperformed but he is no superstar.
Well done British trainers. I hope your horses enjoyed their Saturday afternoon in their boxes.
Sheikh Mohammed’s avoidance of Coolmore as a reason for anything is overblown. Via Jim Bolger he has tapped into Galileo. One of his best sires was a Giant’s Causeway horse. He was a huge supporter of Sadler’s Wells; mostly it yielded NH stallions, and the same is true of Coolmore. Darley are not the only major breeders to shy away from too much of the SW line, and after this generation that may not look so foolish. Anyway, where are the rest of the Irish in the middle distance ranks? One trainer with two runners is hardly a sign of health on this side of the Irish Sea, and the stallions are there for all to use. Ballydoyle have to shoulder a large portion of responsibility. They are prepared to sacrifice runners to cover all tactical bases. They have nothing to lose doing it. There are 20 more Sovereigns back home, so if he gets jaded (as he looked to me) it’s not a huge deal, and he picked up a wad of cash along the way. Similarly, it still remains to be seen whether Serpentine will take a lung busting run at Epsom in his stride, but there will be another runner to fill the gap if he doesn’t. Will Galileo’s passing change much? They may just decide to dominate at a different distance, and middle distance may flourish again. I don’t think it’s so much to do with the superiority of Galileo (the stats are there for everyone to check for themselves) as his owner’s preparedness to behave this way. People who think that’s ok think it’s ok, people who don’t, don’t. Simple as that. Neither will ever agree with the other.
Strange as it may seem, owners and trainers are not excited by the idea of entering for a race in the hope of finishing fourth.
The layman neither knows nor cares about the ins and outs of the entry process. It’s going to look somewhat strange to the wider public that owners are more interested in winning an egg and spoon race at Wolverhampton for 50p when they could send a rocking horse to Ascot and win tens of thousands for ambling home in 4th in their own time.
I might be clutching at straws here but it could be that Glorious Goodwood, being within closer proximity to the King George this year, has swayed the trainers/owners to concentrate more on preparation for the festival
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