Eagle Top for the GV next if he were mine...and then nowhere near the Leger. Too good and too much pace for that non event..almost a blight on a stud sheet. Great turn of foot and loves fast ground...BC turf perfect for him but then the Lloyd-Webbers have to be accommodated for that event with their dodge pot. Tuck him away for next year..not an easy decision since he didn't race at two.
I always felt she was a soft ground horse. She is almost certain to get her ground in October because even if it does not rain they water the track. The main risk anybody faces taking a bet now is her being retired if the vets find some injury; or the not inescapable possibility that she is a 123-rated horse and last year’s 130 in the Arc was a one off. That is why so many of the current leading fancies in the betting are not worth having a penny on – the like of The Fugue will not be showing up. If it is soft, Australia will not be there. Avenir Certain will not stay. The Japanese contingent are a complete unknown. Still plenty of time yet for some currently unexposed three year old to put in a stellar performance and leap to the top of the betting. They do not need to hold an entry; they just need an owner who will shell out the supplementary fee. I am still waiting to see Ectot’s next race – he was very fancied for the Prix Du Jockey Club until picking up an injury and he beat Poulains’ winner Karakontie very easily in their trial.
No you don't. Australia has already achieved what he was bought to do You need the best mares and the best bloodstock minds in the world to promote a stallion...Coolmore satiate that criterion. Frankel hasn't achieved 'owt at stud...yet.
In order to attract the “best mares” (other than the ones that Coolmore already own), Australia will need more than just a Derby win (current record three wins from five races) and having two Classic winners as parents. If it turns out that this year’s three year olds are ordinary, he has not done anything yet. Not sure how the Arc thread got into a discussion on Australia’s stud prospects... where is Princess when you need her?
I disagree..he is after all the best ever at Ballydoyle. Coolmore have other options including foal share,such as with Lord Roxburghe with Attraction,or outright buy at auction,such as Australia himself. The stallion will be backed privately and publicly. You don't have to be a great racehorse to be a great sire..Invincible Spirit more than proves that. Financial backing and breeding nous count for much if the sire lineage is present. Mastercraftsman is doing OK so far after all.
Treve could still win the Arc because the only legit contender this year might be the doubtful stayer Just A Way, but it still wont be the same Treve. Pulled muscle story out today, not convinced.
Just for me, Treve has a high chance, but I don't think it will be a satisfying one for him though. please log in to view this image
A good ground Arc isn't that rare when you actually look back. Good ground and Australia will surely line up and his turn of foot will be potent in a race like this. 10/1 looks decent now, but it's a race hard to be too bullish on.
Australia will get a lot of coolmore and juddmonte mares every year as common practice ! Why would you go with frankel when Galileo is still about ?
Good question, although you would of course get all that lovely Galileo pedigree mixed with an extra bit of Northern Dancer and a bit of Ribot for good luck. Haven't looked at Galileo's progressive record. Do they tail off at all as they get older? What is the fee for Galileo these days?
I suppose Galileo has to be a better bet as a sire at the moment because we have no idea how good a stallion Frankel will be. I'm sure pN can tell us but I'd guess their covering charges would be fairly similar. Galileo is a formidable sire of racehorses but the best evidence we have that he will be a sire of sires, like his dad and granddad, is New Approach. Not a bad start but you'll need a few more I suppose.
Apparently Galileo is looking a promising broodmare sire. Now that's interesting because his own dam was one of the best producers of racehorses. Will he be like mum or dad, or will he be like both? As regards tailing off I always remember the lesson of Donatello (also bred by Ribot's breeder), who sired Alycidon (1945) in one of his early crops and Crepello (1954) in one of his his last.
Taghrooda is the best horse that Hamdan Al Maktoum has had in recent years – I cannot recall his last Group 1 winner let alone Classic winner. She holds entries in the St Leger and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, so I guess it is just a case of where he fancies going with her. I think she will stick to the fillies races (Irish and Yorkshire Oaks) and then he will have to decide. If he wants to go to the Breeders’ Cup, I do not think Paris is a great stepping stone but the earlier St Leger might be seen as one.
I wonder how he feels about the Group One stagnation of his racing empire? If Wiki can be believed, he's had a fantastic run from the mid eighties through to about 2010, but then things have really dried up. It seems he has eight stud farms on the go which must be pumping out some wonderfully bred stock, yet he struggles to get those major wins. Maybe Taghrooda has started the ball rolling for him again. Racing manager Angus Gold must be a relieved man, I was just about to apply for his job.
Whilst Sea The Moon was an emphatic winner of the Deutsches Derby and his new rating suggests that he and Australia are the two stand out middle distance three year olds in Europe, just how good are they really? The punters have piled on to the German colt and his odds for the Parisian showpiece are at best 7/1 and as short as 9/2 with some firms (source: Oddschecker). This is no surprise because the paucity of viable candidates is really cramping the market. It does not seem that likely that we have two outstanding horses in training at the same time so I hope that one or both of them is pitched in against their elders before October so that we can determine whether they really are very good or whether they are just better than a moderate Classic generation.
With the Grand Prix de Paris going to Andre Fabre – again – thanks to Gallante, there was virtually no movement in the Arc betting as Jean-Claude Rouget’s Prince Gibraltar is still 20/1 whilst the winner has been introduced at 25/1. Well beaten The Grey Gatsby has drifted out to 40/1 but surely will not be supplemented for the race unless his owner has very deep pockets. With the Irish Oaks next week and the King George the following week, there is not going to be much activity this month unless something puts up a stellar performance in either of those events.
We should get an idea of the form of Sea The Moon tomorrow. Lucky Lion, the second horse in the German Derby although beaten by 11L takes on Noble Mission in The Dalmayr Preis at Munich at both horses' optimum distance and going. If Lucky Lion wins or comes a close second there can be no doubt of the value of Sea The Moon's win at Hamburg Horn. The race should be shown on either ATR or Racing UK.
