The betting was ominous. I thought Yibir had been running against much better horses than Stowell had been but most of the tipsters seemed to be with the Gosden runner this morning. After being 3rd to Alenquer and Adayar in the Sandown Classic Trial, Charlie Appleby said Yibir would go for the Chester Vase, as he needed a longer trip. However, they went back on that and ran him in the Dee Stakes, where he looked ill at ease. Next time he ran in the Cocked Hat at Goodwood but it was soft there and his best races last season were on good ground. Considering that he was second to Lone Eagle, albeit 4 lengths behind, and that the winner nearly landed the Irish Derby, I was toying with Yibir today but when he was 6/4 I thought I had missed the boat at the 9/4 available earlier and I left him alone. We all know what happens in those scenarios and he won well. I was surprised to see tipsters putting Gear Up as their selection. The horse is deteriorating from last year's high and is now due another reduction in his rating after this showing surely. He came in rated 109 and that looked a piece of nonsense 5 and a half lengths in arrears of the well exposed 100 rated Dancing King. Stowell was awful today and Thady Gosden could offer no explanation. The vet reported no abnormalities but he's surely better than he showed today. I saw a couple of tips for Highest Ground today based on excuses for other poor performances. There seemed no excuse regarding the ground today and Ryan Moore could only tell the stewards that the horse was slowly away. He seems to have plenty to prove and the notion that he was a potential Derby winner has surely gone the way of the casual vomit, as Billy Connolly used to say.
