It is easy after-timing as I have seen all the post race comments. Ruling Court was never travelling at any point and Charlie Appleby says he is stepping up to ten furlongs. Now that it has been announced that Field Of Gold will go to the Sussex Stakes and then the Juddmonte International, the Gosden’s grey will get the chance to crown himself Champion Miler against his elders on the Sussex Downs (reportedly also the destination for Henri Matisse) before potentially meeting Ruling Court again at York. The Queen Anne was a disappointing race that effectively became a two furlong sprint worthy of France. No disrespect to connections of Docklands, who won fair and square, but the race did tell us that the older miler division is really only ordinary and Rosallion is likely to get chewed up and spat out by the Classic generation at Goodwood. If we assume that Henri Matisse ran to his rating in the St James’s Palace then the easy winner Field Of Gold is verging on being a 130 rated horse and none of the older horses can compete with him. Officials at York will be getting the marketing team working on the Juddmonte on the first day of the Ebor meeting as it is already looking like the clash of the generations two months before it is run. What if tomorrow’s Prince Of Wales’ Stakes favourite Los Angeles is also thrown into calculations?
I wouldn't even consider Ruling Court pre any race and likely not until just before the off. Boiled over at York last year, double boiled over today. It was said these Justifys can be a bit '.....'... I though HM closed quite well on FOG today.. couldnt got with it when the pace quickened but was close at the line than at the 1 and a half...
Gosden said he had feared that Keane went too soon on Field Of Gold today and he certainly didn't win by as far as it had looked at one stage. I would be doubtful that Henri Matisse would get the better of him in the future, all things being equal. I said on this forum, as soon as Appleby declared the St James as Ruling Court's target, that it was the wrong race for him. The Racing Media were bigging it up as a rematch for the ages but the betting told us that it was a one horse affair in reality. It's a bad habit Ruling Court has of sweating up and he was never travelling today. At York last season I didn't touch him in the Acomb because I feel 7F on the Knavesmire is a good way to get a staying type beaten and it is why I backed Shadow Of Light for the Guineas instead. Looking at The Eclipse now, Sosie is 3/1 Fav and I can't have him at all at those odds, I reckon he will need it soft to have a chance at Sandown. It took him a fair while to wear Sardinian Warrior down last time and the Gosden horse seemed to run out of gas that day.
