Champions Stakes Preview: New Approach is already a short-priced favourite for both next season's 2,000 Guineas and Derby but if Jim Bolger's latest superstar colt can clinch European juvenile champion honours at Newmarket this afternoon he will become an even hotter prospect for next year's classics.
The dangers of thinking too far ahead were never more graphically illustrated than by Teofilo's abortive classic season but for now New Approach is impressively following the same footsteps that took his former stable companion to an unbeaten five from five juvenile campaign last term.
The Irish star's route has been identical to Teofilo, a Curragh maiden win was followed by success in the Tyros Stakes and Futurity Stakes before slamming the best around in the National Stakes.
After that, Bolger declared New Approach had nothing left to prove as a two-year-old but significantly he is allowing the horse take the last step that Teofilo so memorably took in last year's Darley Dewhurst Stakes.
It's doubly significant since New Approach is now half-owned by Sheikh Mohammed whose Godolphin representative Rio De La Plata got nearest in the National Stakes and is attempting a Group One double today after easily scoring in the Prix Jean Luc Lagadere.
As well as Rio De La Plata, there is the unbeaten Raven's Pass and also a number of less exposed colts which make up what will almost definitely be the championship race of 2007 for two-year-olds.
Despite the competition, and soft ground, as well as an uncontested early lead being unlikely, nothing appears to be shaking Bolger's confidence. "I'm not worried about the pace. He doesn't have to lead," he reported. "It doesn't matter to us how the race is run. He's the best of the two-year-olds I've seen. The ground is fine. He's not facing anything he hasn't faced before."
The Godolphin team are quietly confident of closing the length and three-quarter gap from the National Stakes if Rio De La Plata is ridden more aggressively and there will be plenty anxiously looking at New Approach to see if he exhibits the same flashes of temperament he did at the Curragh.
However, for a colt that has already been compared to Secretariat by his trainer, there will be widespread disappointment if there isn't a strong sense of déjà vu around Newmarket today.
Aidan O'Brien runs both Eagle Mountain and Mount Nelson in the Champion Stakes and the soft ground should hold no terrors for either horse, especially Eagle Mountain who will be ridden by John Murtagh for the first time since finishing runner-up in the Derby.
Not seen since winning the Royal Whip in August, this afternoon's ground and trip should be ideal for Eagle Mountain who may emerge best of the classic crop against the older horses, Notnowcato and Doctor Dino.
Murtagh will also be on O'Brien's Katy Matcham in the Group Two Rockfel and teams up with Tony Martin's Leg Spinner in the Cesarewitch alongside John Queally's high-class hurdler Al Eile.
The home feature at Cork this afternoon is the Listed Navigation Stakes where owner David O'Reilly will be doubly represented by the Eddie Lynam-trained Excelerate and Worldy Wise from Pat Flynn's yard.
Excelerate's rating makes him a major contender for this but his best form is at seven furlongs and Worldy Wise, a Gowran winner last time, could be an each-way value alternative where the 112-rated Hard Rock City might not like the ground drying out any more. The dark horse of the race is Dermot Weld's Danzig colt, Capital Exposure, who had good form as a juvenile and hasn't been seen since May.
Eddie Lynam also runs Duff in the Group Two Challenge Stakes at Newmarket but his best chance of a winner today looks to be in the six-furlong maiden at Cork with Deal Breaker. The form of his third to Rock Of Rochelle and the subsequent Group Three winner Domingues at the Curragh before that reads very well.
Aidan O'Brien unveils an interesting newcomer Tale Of Two Cities in the concluding seven-furlong maiden and High Chaparral's brother could complete a Ballydoyle double with War And Peace in the earlier maiden.
