Think this Naval Crown could be a very useful 2-y-o. Won this 7f Maiden Stakes at York easily by 4-1/2 lengths.
Jeepers that was mighty pathetic from Ubettabelieveit. Some early speed but he was feeble. I assume the people of Malton were not lumping on, as the bookies could not give him away out to 9/1. He must have been amiss to have run that far below an OR of 103. Oisin Murphy reported that the horse ran too free but that hardly excuses such an awful run. Better news with my each-way pick Devilwala, who ran an excellent race to take second place at 16/1 earlier. Saved the day there. It was all about one horse though and Minzaal justified the support and the Timeform rating with a dominant win despite a slow start. It was all over from some way out and he looks an excellent prospect. He is now worthy of the 110+ rating suggested possible by some coming in. The crux of this race was probably Yazaman. I felt he was perhaps static in terms of progress and you can probably say he has regressed today. There was money for him today but the form of the races he was in worried me and you would have to worry even more about them now. Stick got a good run from Escape Route, who reversed form with Yazaman from the July Stakes in 4th today but that is now 10 runs from the July Stakes with zero wins, two places and eight unplaced. The two places were Yazaman, thumped in the Richmond and a well beaten 3rd off 85 in a Nursery. I've done my dough on Dandalla in the Morny, as she isn't in it now but C'est La Vie, I thought she was worth a poke at 7/1. There is still time for form to be boosted but it's left to Campanelle and Tactical as 7/4 and 2/1 at the head of the betting now. Not sure why Dandalla is out of it, it's surely a good race to put on a CV. All about Minzaal today and he would surely be looking at the Middle Park Stakes and being one of the leading lights based on today's showing.
The Nunthorpe was a yawn fest. Battaash was well below his best but still won. Art Power was beaten after two furlongs. The sideshow with the clock told us all we needed to know that it wasn't really a race but Battaash made slightly heavy weather of beating mediocre horses in second and third. Millisle had already let down the Art Power form and he didn't really look at ease in this Group 1 race today. A boring division of the Racing game with next to no betting angle for the casual punter. It's not been a vintage Ebor meeting thus far. Love and Ghayyiath did what was expected and Battaash was underwhelming. I had been interested to see how one time Derby contender Highest Ground got on against older horses in the Strensall tomorrow and was going to take the beaten Dante favourite on after seeing him open as 7/2 Favourite for Saturday's Group 3 but he has been pulled out of the race now. Both Highest Ground and Waldkonig came into the season with quite high expectations but watching the Stoute horse turn over the Gosden odds-on favourite in a class 5 Novice, I had my concerns about the form. Waldkonig has not been seen since, while the Stoute horse was turned over at odds-on in the Dante Stakes, run after the Derby this season. The third home in the Dante was Juan Elcano, beaten two lengths by Highest Ground. Juan Elcano was 13 and a half lengths behind Pyledriver in the Voltigeur, when last of the eight runners. Dante winner Thunderous has not been seen since and there is a general malaise around the 3YO form this season, not all of it Covid-19 related, unless the poor horses have caught it! Still, Aidan has said Love is the best filly he has ever trained. I would take Minding in a match at Evens if they had met at their peak. I haven't got a business to run mind you.
Naval Crown had the best form coming into this today. His official rating of 93 was a very strong standard for a maiden race. He slaughtered his field today though and looking back to his previous run, the 4th home Saint Lawrence, went on to win a Listed race next time out and with Naval Crown winning so well today they have boosted the form of the winner of the Listed Pat Eddery race, Chindit who is trained by Richard Hannon. Not sure where they go next with Chindit but he is 2/2 and by the sire Wootton Bassett. There was speculation earlier in the year that Wootton Bassett might be a sire of promise and that was before Coolmore "Shrewdly" decided to buy the stallion. "Stroke of genius" or "Hey, we have the money to do these things" delete as necessary. It reminds me of the Antiques Roadshow, where the owner is told that their object worth squillions and handed down by their Grandfather was the result of their ancestor "Having a good eye" No it wasn't, it was because their ancestor was in a privileged position at the time, in the right place and had enough money to buy it. Give me millions of pounds and I will soon show how good my eye is. The irony probably is that their Grandfather had a glass eye, was deaf in one ear and blind in the other one. I digress, interesting where they take Naval Crown next, they must be looking at decent company now.
There was never any realistic chance of Battaash beating the clock even with the tail wind and he clearly underperformed today given that he had 22lb in hand of the runner-up on the official ratings and she ran him to a length (3lb). But I think some credit should be given to Michael Dods for supplementing his filly Que Amoro as she has certainly paid back his faith in her in spades; and it does look like he has found yet another good sprinting prospect to follow in the hoofprints of Mabs Cross. I read that the trainer decided against entering her in the Prix de l’Abbaye but now they will supplement her with some of the winnings. Good luck to them.
Oh well two good winners one anchored by a stone extra and the girl is looking like they need to think about the distance. Still a little profit
Cant say ive ever taken to Battaash, a Champion sprinter has to do it at 6f for me, and his record in Group 1s before this season was quite poor given his superstar status, thats been propped up now by beating Equilateral and Que Amoro who I doubt anyone would say were Group 1 standard. Blue Point is probably the best horse hes been up against and he was consistently put away by him, Blue Point could also do it at 6f yet he was never put up as a superstar by racing like Battaash has been. When Battash beat Dayjurs record last year, the races were running on average 2 seconds faster than the same races on the day Dayjur set the record, he doesnt deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as Dayjur, their silks are the only thing they have in common.
Skybet were boosting the price of Bataash breaking his own course record yesterday to 5/1. There was more chance of seeing God.
To illustrate this he entered stud in 2012 and stood for €4,000 a pop. His first harem was 47 mares (not big for a FSS), his second number of matings was 29 (usual for the second season to be smaller), 3rd was 73. Now that is unusual. When he covered those 73 mares his first crop would have been just yearlings and most of them less than 12 months old. You can only explain this by saying those breeders who'd used him liked what they saw. His first 2yos were in 2015 and enough was seen for his book to expand to 126 mares in 2016. Almanzor was in this first crop and although he was a good 2yo his listed win was the 8f Prix de Bordeaux, so he was really under the radar. Of course after Almanzor's exploits in 2016 Wootton Bassett's covering fee went up to €20,000. Those foals produced are now 3yos. In 2019 his fee doubled again to €40,000. In his early years he covered fairly ordinary books. He's now covering much better mares. One issue has been that mostly French breeders used him: if you were in the UK it was difficult to get a nomination. That will change, but so will the price.
