Sky Sports Racing's Alex Hammond enjoyed a Zoom call with Willie Mullins about his Auteuil team before getting her head in the formbook for this week's blog.
Wednesday was a pretty busy day. It was the sort of day that all your tasks have their own time slot, and if one of those were to go awry the whole day falls apart. It started at 4.45am and by the time I set off for the Sky Sports Racing studio at 10.15am it felt like I’d lived more than one lifetime.
When I arrived, I was told we were getting Willie Mullins on zoom to chat about the extensive number of runners he was sending to France this weekend. The highlights of the two-day meeting are the races we know as the French Champion Hurdle (run over 3m 1½ furlongs) at Auteuil on Saturday, and the French Gold Cup at the same Paris track on Sunday. Correctly titled the Grand Course De Haies d’Auteuil and the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris.
It was a scramble to research his runners before going on air, but it was worth it. Willie was his usual charming, laid-back self. However, when he spoke of Asterion Forlonge as having gone slightly under the radar in the French Champion Hurdle, he had a mischievous twinkle in his eye. I asked him which of his runners had the best chance of winning over the weekend and he didn’t miss a beat when he highlighted Zarak The Brave. He feels we haven’t seen the best of him yet. He goes in a race called the Prix Alain De Breil, a race for four-year-old hurdlers. He carries the double green of Isaac Souede and Simon Munir and you’ll be able to watch all the coverage on Sky Sports Racing.
My Wednesday ended by writing this blog which I started at 9.30pm, so all in all, pretty busy.
Let’s have a spin through some of the excellent flat racing we have this week. The Dante is the feature on day two of York’s meeting. Frankie Dettori is doing a good job of keeping us entertained as he continues on his farewell tour (will he or won’t he finally retire in the Autumn, or will he be tempted by another winter stint in California?).
He already has a Derby contender in Arrest, who is now 5/1 with Sky Bet after winning at Chester last week. Well Frankie may have a tough decision to make if Epictetus (currently 28/1) does something good on the Knavesmire. It looks unlikely that he’ll knock his stablemate off his lofty perch in the Epsom classic betting, but you never know. He’s proven at Epsom’s uniquely undulating track thanks to a win in the Blue Riband Trial last month. The Derby picture looks a little murky at present with Auguste Rodin flopping in the 2000 Guineas and no standout performer.
It's eye-catching to see Sir Michael Stoute has supplemented Passenger into the York Group 2. The colt missed the Dee Stakes due to the soft ground last week and he comes into this with only the Wood Ditton Maiden Stakes to his name. Sir Michael isn’t a man to tilt at windmills though and he won this race most recently in 2022 with subsequent Derby winner Desert Crown. He first won it with Shahrastani in 1986 and is joint leading trainer (with Sir Henry Cecil) in this Derby trial. That one looks the most appealing to me.
I think Frankie will celebrate a win at York on Thursday though on Free Wind in the Middleton Stakes at 2.25pm. She doesn’t take much racing but goes well fresh and whilst this trip may now be a little short of her best, it’s a great starting point for her season. Let’s hope team Gosden are able to keep her fit and firing for a full season.
On Friday at York the Yorkshire Cup is the feature and this division is ripe for a new star. Stradivarius is now fully settled at stud and Trueshan has to prove he’s the force of old and with Kyprios on the side-lines, there’s a vacancy waiting to be filled. Trainer Hughie Morrison feels that Quickthorn hasn’t been recognised for his dominating performance when he slammed the opposition in the Lonsdale at this track in August. He beat Coltrane by fourteen lengths that day having charged off in front and never saw another rival. It wasn’t just a wide margin win; the winning time was impressive too. Coltrane came out and won the Sagaro at Ascot on his seasonal return, so the form is good.
On Saturday the show rolls on to Newbury for the Lockinge Stakes. There’s a very healthy entry for the one-mile group 1 with Modern Games one of the leading contenders. His highest profile wins have come abroad with Group/Grade 1 wins coming in France, Canada and the US (two Breeders’ Cup wins) and he seems to operate on a different level away from the UK.
Laurel is a lightly raced filly of the Gosden’s. It’ll be interesting to see if she is pitched in here after a comfortable all-weather win in listed company at Kempton last time out. My Prospero missed a good opportunity at Ascot when he was taken out on account of a bad scope. This is tougher but his neck third to Coroebus in last year’s St. James’s Palace Stakes is top drawer.
Mutasaabeq won at his beloved Newmarket on his return this season. Trainer Charlie Hills has had to take his time with this horse in order for him to mentally mature and he has improved for blinkers the last twice.
If Andre Fabre brings Tribalist over then we’ll sit up and take notice. He doesn’t miss often with his UK runners, although you have to go bac to 2020 for his last turf winner here, albeit from a very small sample size. The horse has won well o both starts this season in France in a lower grade.
Jadoomi is intriguing. We haven’t seen him since he finished lame in the QEII Stakes at Ascot in October. Prior to that, it looked like a gelding operation had helped concentrate his mind and he was going from strength to strength. He wouldn’t want the ground to dry out too much though.
I’m hoping that William Haggas has got My Prospero back in tip top form and at 4/1 with Sky Bet, he’s my selection.
Anyway, it’s now 11pm and it’s over and out from me. Have a great week and enjoy the gripping sport still to come.
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