Aidan O’Brien has an English classic record in his sights at Epsom this week, but also a potential 10th French classic success to aim at in Sunday’s French Derby.
Last year the Irishman finally broke his duck in the €1.5 million Qatar Prix du Jockey Club with St Mark’s Basilica after more than two decades of trying. A couple of weeks later he completed the set of French classics with Joan Of Arc emerging on top in the Prix de Diane.
Combined with a handful of victories in the “Poulains” and one in the “Pouliches” along with Yeats’s 2008 Prix Royal success, O’Brien could reach double digits in France this Sunday.
A trio of Ballydoyle hopefuls — Point Lonsdale, Ivy League and The Acropolis — remain among the 18 horses left in the Chantilly classic after Tuesday’s acceptance stage. Point Lonsdale hasn’t been seen since disappointing in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket but is 10-1 in some lists to successfully bounce back to winning form this weekend.
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Top of the betting is Godolphin’s Modern Games, who will attempt to emulate St Mark’s Basilica by completing the French Guineas-Derby double. Next best in the betting is the French horse Al Hakeem, a four-length course and distance winner at Chantilly last time.
A proven Group One winner set to line up in the Jockey Club is James Ferguson’s El Bodegon. Last season’s Criterium de Saint-Cloud winner failed to fire in the Dante when only beating one home behind the Epsom favourite Desert Crown.
“I think we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and run him in France where everything should be in his favour, hopefully.
“He’s obviously done his best racing in France and they’re due a bit of rain at Chantilly, so hopefully there will be a bit of ease in the ground — I think it’s the logical step going forward,” the English trainer said.
“It’s a very competitive race and Modern Games is going to be very hard to beat, but we’re going there with every chance and looking forward to it.
“He’s in good form, the plan is for Ioritz [Mendizabal] to ride and we’ll learn a lot more about him,” Ferguson added.
Spanish-born Mendizabal was on board St Mark’s Basilica in last year’s French Derby.
Aidan O’Brien has a shot at securing a record 41st English classic in Epsom later in the week. Stone Age heads a trio of likely Derby starters on Saturday, while there are four potential Oaks runners for Ballydoyle on Friday, including Tuesday and Concert Hall, who filled the frame in the Irish 1,000 Guineas.
O’Brien currently shares the English classic record with the 19th-century figure John Scott.
Ground conditions at Epsom changed to soft and good to soft in places on Tuesday after significant rainfall the day before. Up to 9mm of rain produced a noticeable change in going that had been watered in recent weeks.
Clerk of the course Andrew Cooper reported that had racing been held on Tuesday runners would most likely have raced on the stands rail up the straight. That usually occurs on soft ground conditions such as when Snowfall produced a record-breaking 12-length success in last year’s Oaks. However, the weather outlook later this week is drier with temperatures rising to about 20 degrees from Thursday onwards.
Ryan Moore will warm up for his classic assignments at Epsom with two days’ riding in Ireland. On Thursday the English jockey has three rides at Leopardstown including the once-raced Martinstown in the listed King George V Cup.
Before that Moore will be in action at the Curragh’s Wednesday programme, where some world class pedigrees will be on show — none more so that the newcomer Auguste Rodin. The impeccably-bred son of Deep Impact and Rhododendron lines up for a juvenile maiden where an intriguing form link to his highly rated stable companion Alfred Munnings occurs through Segomo. The latter was runner-up to next year’s Guineas favourite on his own debut at Leopardstown.
The newcomer Over The Rainbow is a product of Dubawi and the Irish Oaks winner Seventh Heaven who starts her career in a later three-year-old maiden.
Fenella is another well-bred filly in this and a combination of first-time cheekpieces and a step up to the mile-and-a-half could see her make it third time lucky.
The Curragh’s €50,000 feature is a mile-and-three-quarter handicap where the mare Dame Rapide will try to maintain her recent rapid progression. Moore teams up with Willie Mullins for this, and Micro Manage at his best doesn’t look harshly handicapped.
