Our Ben Linfoot says Albert Einstein can still justify the considerable hype if he drops in trip after he was defeated again in the Watership Down Stud Too Darn Hot Greenham Stakes at Newbury on Saturday.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge,” said Albert Einstein.
But the idea that the equine named after the theoretical physicist is a potential 2000 Guineas horse must surely now be shelved.
Perhaps The Lads intervened. Straight after the Gladness Stakes Aidan O’Brien spoke at length about how the son of Wootton Bassett would in all likelihood drop back in trip for a sprinting campaign.
So it was a surprise that the initial reaction to him being taken out of the Guineas by accident was that he could be supplemented back in.
And it was even more surprising that the Greenham emerged as his next race, the Newbury trial having never been won by O’Brien who had only previously had four runners in the contest and none since 2017.
It must’ve been a last throw of the Guineas dice. To see if he would come on for his Gladness run. To see if he could settle better in the hood. To see if he might just stretch out to a mile.
The good news is he did come on for his first start in 307 days. He ran well in the Greenham, despite the steady pace, beaten a length and three quarters in third after a bit of a barging match with the runner-up, Zavateri.
But the revs were still up too high too early in the contest despite the new headgear. He wanted to go half-a-yard quicker and he needs to - it’s to his credit that he still had a finishing effort in him after being keen early once again.
WATCH: Alparslan beats Zavateri and Albert Einstein in the Greenham
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If he was going to get home over seven furlongs, it was at Newbury on decent ground on a day like today. He didn’t, his class getting him as far as he got.
“We will have to chew on it,” said Ballydoyle representative Kevin Buckley afterwards, but if O’Brien had been in Berkshire I’d bet his reaction would’ve been identical to his post-Gladness assessment.
He looks a sprinter all over and a strong gallop in the Commonwealth Cup over six furlongs could be perfect for him.
Indeed, it’s surprising the likes of Ladbrokes and Coral have pushed him out to 12/1 from 8/1 for the Royal Ascot contest, the idea presumably being that he’s simply not living up to the considerable hype.
The shunt out to 25/1 for the 2000 Guineas looks fair enough, but it could well be that he’s simply run over the wrong trip twice this season and I’d think twice about laying him at double-figure prices for the six-furlong race.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had a horse as quick,” said O’Brien at his press day back in March.
Perhaps that was Aidan’s own vivid imagination, but I’ve still got a feeling the hype machine might prove to be correct in time when this horse is finally unleashed over a sprinting trip.
And what about the winner and runner-up?
Karl Burke’s Alparslan was the one to take advantage and he did this by racing efficiently off steady fractions on the front end under a good ride from Clifford Lee.
This was his fourth career start and he has progressed with each run, reversing Dewhurst form with Zavateri here, but there are reservations about him for the Betfred 2000 Guineas for which he is now 25/1.
The mile is one of them, as he’s by Dandy Man, this is as far as he has gone and he isn’t short of speed himself. There’s hope on his dam’s side he will get the mile, but he has to go and prove it and it isn’t a given.
Perhaps even more of a problem is the Rowley Mile. He didn’t handle the undulations well in the Dewhurst and while that might’ve been immaturity on just his third start there’s no doubt he looked a much happier horse in the Greenham.
The Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas on May 23 looks the race where connections could attempt the mile for the first time. He won at the Curragh as a two-year-old and Burke has a good recent record in Ireland; a strike-rate of 21% over the last five years.
Whether the lure of Newmarket proves too strong remains to be seen. But wherever he goes next he looks like an uncomplicated improver with the right temperament to strike at a high level granted the right circumstances.
I’d say it’s doubtful that will be in the Guineas. Indeed, it’s doubtful we saw a Guineas horse today.
Runner-up Zavateri might be the most likely, he ran well in second after being short of room with the race not run to suit and he does look likely to stay a mile.
But he too has a Rowley Mile question mark hanging over him and perhaps the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, a race his sire Without Parole won, might be the race for him.
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