Ben Linfoot unpicks the result of the Blue Riband Trial at Epsom after Nahanni knuckled down under William Buick to ensure another winner for Charlie Appleby.
As we ease out of the Craven meeting towards Guineas weekend and Derby trial season the Cazoo Blue Riband Trial at Epsom acts as a gentle frivolity, a Tuesday treat, compared to the more serious business at Chester and York next month.
The race has had an upturn in quality in recent years thanks mainly to John Gosden, who thought this the right passage for both So Mi Dar and Cracksman, the latter third in the Derby and a four-time Group One winner, making him the best horse to come out of this race for many a year.
He’s still the best son of Frankel to hit the turf, as well, despite his sire producing not one but two Derby winners last season, and the middle-distance Classics look likely to be a source of serious riches for progeny of Juddmonte’s star stallion in the coming years.
With that in mind Frankel had the winner here thanks to NAHANNI, who was introduced at 25/1 across the board for the Cazoo Derby after completing a hat-trick thanks to a robust display where he showed guts and resolution to see off all challengers.
Representing the all-conquering Charlie Appleby and Godolphin team, his trainer storming along through April at a now remarkable 57% strike-rate, Nahanni impressed with his attitude without suggesting he has anywhere near the class for a Derby.
Indeed, he had no big-race entries prior to this contest, and while his trainer confirmed afterwards that he’ll likely take up the automatic entry he earned for the Epsom Classic on the back of this success, trips in excess of the 1m4f Derby distance look likely to be his port of call before the season’s end.
His dam, Final Stage, is a sister to 1m6f winner Famous Kid and a half to Leger winner Mastery, so perhaps the Leger (now 20/1 at Sky Bet) is a more realistic target for him.
This was all very straightforward for the first three quarters of the race. Nahanni led, he settled well in front and he cornered well, while others, like the green Sheer Rocks, didn’t.
Approaching the last three furlongs the complexion of the race changed, however. Nahanni was under pressure trying to hold onto the lead, with both Mighty Ulysses and Zain Sarinda travelling the better to his outside, while Grand Alliance challenged up his inner.
It was at that point Nahanni traded at 14.0 in-running on the Betfair Exchange, but he was actually never headed and had shown a straightforwardness in both the preliminaries and in the early stages of the race that enabled him to see this out the best.
The same cannot be said for John & Thady Gosden’s Mighty Ulysses, the eventual fifth, who looked the likely winner when he traded at 1.85 in-running. He was keen for the first three furlongs, only settling by the time they were making the descent into Tattenham Corner and that appeared to cost him.
He didn’t get home, his effort flattening out and while his sire Ulysses, with his first three-year-olds, has already won a Derby trial with one of his sons this season (Piz Badile in the Ballysax), this fellow looks unlikely to do so, even if he is one of 10 Gosden colts in the Dante.
At this stage he looks unlikely to take up that option, especially with the stable having so many cannons to fire in the York trial, with a drop in trip to a mile, at least temporarily, looking a more preferable route for him.
The runner-up, Grand Alliance, ran well for Charlie Fellowes. He was rushed up the inside early on to gain a midfield sit after a tardy start and he travelled well in the winner’s slipstream.
James Doyle chose to dive down the inside instead of pulling him around Nahanni when he had a decision to make two from home and at that point it looked like he might be left behind by the three rivals to his outside, but he kept on well to ensure second.
He could be one for the 10-furlong 3yo handicap on Derby day, ditto Zain Sarinda, although how well he’d handle Derby day preliminaries is a question mark.
Keen to post on a quiet Tuesday, he stayed on well from the rear to challenge on the outside, trading at 1.72 in-running himself deep in the contest, despite not handling the camber particularly well, his hanging to the left possibly costing him victory.
This was a first turf start for the son of Churchill, though, and it was an encouraging one.
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The other one worth mentioning is Aidan O’Brien’s United Nations, who made late gains for fourth after being held up in the rear.
This was the sixth representative from Ballydoyle in this race from the last six renewals, a manoeuvre that has been a change in policy given O’Brien rarely targeted this race prior to 2016. He’s only won one, though, with subsequent French Derby fourth Cape Of Good Hope, and his also rans have never amounted to anything.
There was enough promise in this run to hope United Nations won’t drift away like James Cook and Hector De Maris did before him, and he’s lightly-raced enough to hope that, too, but it’s likely he was a sighter for the much bigger guns that will arrive on these shores in the coming weeks.
It’s 1-0 to Appleby in the English Derby trials, though, and it will be interesting to follow how that scoreline progresses over the next month or so.
