Timeform bring you their latest ratings update following the French 2000 & 1000 Guineas and more key Derby & Oaks trials.
Diamond Necklace (116p from 109p) had signed off last season with an impressive win over the same course and distance in the Prix Marcel Boussac, and she improved another chunk to confirm that form with several in the French 1000 Guineas, this time having even more to spare.
The placed fillies from that race stayed on to make the frame again, Green Spirit doing so eye-catchingly from a long way back, though it was another with an unbeaten record who chased the winner home, while those up front didn't see it out in what were grim, deteriorating conditions. The time was over two seconds slower than the colts earlier on, and it was just the second time since 2000 that it had taken over one minute and forty seconds to run.
Diamond Necklace was just kept up to her work in the closing stages having quickened into the lead over a furlong out, and she promises to improve further still, particularly when moving up in trip. She is rated just 1lb lower than stablemate and Timeform's top rated three-year-old filly True Love. She’ll stay a mile and a quarter and will be the one to beat if returning for the French Oaks next time.
The principals produced smart efforts in this year’s renewal of the French 2000 Guineas, but the form was some way removed from the standard among Timeform’s top three-year-old milers set by Bow Echo (131p) and Gstaad (123) in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket the previous weekend.
Rayif (116 from 109+) showed improved form upped in trip to make a winning return from seven months off, turning the tables on a couple who'd beaten him in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere for which he'd been a short-priced favourite last season.
He was ridden more prominently this time, always travelling well before being produced to lead around a furlong out. Rayif confirmed himself a smart colt, though the likes of Bow Echo and Gstaad lead the way on Timeform ratings and he’ll need to progress again, somewhat markedly so, if he meets that pair at Royal Ascot next month.
It was a second successive win in the Lingfield Oaks Trial for the Aidan O'Brien yard, last year's winner Giselle not seen after finishing fifth at Epsom last year, and Cameo (106 from 87) produced a better bare performance, the best in the race since the subsequent Oaks heroine Anapurna in 2019, even though her task was eased by the poor effort of the favourite.
She comes from a relatively speedy family, but her dam is by Galileo, and like her half-brother Portland, she looked well served by the extra emphasis on stamina on her first start beyond a mile.
Given how strong she was at the finish, her performance suggests there should be much more to come at a mile and a half, and she has surely booked her ticket for the Oaks at Epsom now. Her form isn’t that far behind stablemate and current favourite Amelia Earhart (112p) and her general odds of 16/1 look fair with that in mind.
All six in the Lingfield Derby Trial held a Derby entry and, even though the favourite Maho Bay and O'Brien representative Isaac Newton disappointed, there was plenty to like about the efforts of the first of Maltese Cross (116p from 100p) and Bay of Brilliance (116p from 102p), who pulled well clear off a modest gallop.
As expected, Maltese Cross found significant improvement for the step up to a mile and a half, and he showed great battling qualities once more to hold off the persistent runner-up.
That experience will likely stand him in good stead heading to Epsom and, while he may not be as flashy as some towards the head of the market, there’s no denying he’s an improving three-year-old who has the potential to raise his game further when the time demands it. The form of the first two was well up to standard for the race, and both are entitled to take their chance at Epsom.
The Derby Trial at Leopardstown on Sunday was a rare one this season which didn’t go the way of the Aidan O’Brien yard, though it did stay within the family, James J Braddock (110p from 102p) coming with a storming late run to give Joseph his first ever win in the race.
He improved further and promises to be better still granted more of a test of stamina, reversing Ballysax form with the placed pair despite not having been quite so well positioned in a steadily-run affair, finding plenty to lead in the dying strides.
Pierre Bonnard (110p from 111p) had briefly looked like he’d stolen a march and looked the likeliest winner entering the final furlong – he traded at 1.13 in-running on Betfair – eventually getting the better of his well-ridden stable companion only to be picked off by an even stronger finisher late on. This run hardly enhanced his Derby credentials, though he should stay a mile and a half and remains open to improvement.
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