Mike Cattermole on Classic action at the Curragh and Rab Havlin whip ban
Siskin sizzles at the Curragh, Rab Havlin's whip ban and where does Sovereign's Curragh win leave the Investec Derby form? It's all in Mike Cattermole's latest column.
SISKIN LOOKS A CUT ABOVE
Three races in and Siskin is already looking a bit special.
Having completed his unbeaten hat-trick in the Group Two Railway Stakes at the Curragh on Saturday, he is due to return there next month when he tackles the Group One Phoenix Stakes.
Although he is owned by one of the giants of the game in Khalid Abdullah, the best thing about this story is that Siskin is not trained by an O’Brien, Weld or Bolger but by Ger Lyons.
Lyons has forged a successful training career over almost a quarter of a century now and although he has trained many a smart one, he is still looking for that “signature horse’, the one horse with which he will always be associated. Maybe Siskin could be that horse.
The other intriguing element of this tale is that Siskin is a son of First Defence who did not scale the heights as a stallion at Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farm in Kentucky (best son was Dundonnell, smart for Roger Charlton but ended up in Hong Kong) and was sold three years ago to stand in Saudi Arabia.
It wouldn’t be the first time that a failed stallion sired a champion long after being exported.
HAVLIN’S 13-DAY BAN WAY OVER THE TOP
I wrote about the whip issue in this column a couple of weeks ago when Hayley Turner, never regarded as a whip-happy jockey, was banned for nine days after her famous Royal Ascot win on Thanks Be.
At Windsor on Monday, the stewards threw the book at Rab Havlin for his ride on Frontman, giving him a 13-day holiday for overuse of the whip.
Yes, if you are counting the strikes – and the rules as they stand on the Flat have a number seven on them - Havlin did break the rules as he used his whip 15 times by my reckoning in the last two furlongs, all of them short, back-handed and - crucially - unaggressive slaps.
The Scot has never been one to attract attention for using his whip in a manner which is unpleasant to the eye and this ride was no exception.
The strikes were administered in tune with the horse’s stride and allowed plenty of time for the horse to respond. The fact that Frontman was wearing cheekpieces suggested that this is a horse who needs “help” to put his best foot forward and he started the race as the 2-1 second favourite. If you had backed him, I suspect you would have been satisfied with Rab’s efforts.
Every horse is different, every jockey is different and so is every race. When I heard about the 13-day ban here, I thought Havlin must have beaten up his horse. Nothing of the sort. It created a negative headline, which could and should have been avoided.
If the BHA is looking at the rules regarding the use of the whip, then maybe the time has come to dispense with counting the number of strikes and take each ride on its merits. I am not saying Havlin should not have been banned – 15 times is over the top - but 13 days was way too much.
Some jockeys make me wince when they resort to the whip and even one hard strike can look bad. Havlin has never been in that category.
WHO DARES WINS LIVES UP TO HIS NAME
If ever a horse deserved to win a big one, it was Who Dares Wins who swooped late to snatch the Northumberland Plate from Dubawi Fifty’s grasp on Saturday.
Alan King’s gelding had made the frame in three Chester Cups, one Ascot Stakes, and, for good measure over the jumps, a Coral Cup too, so it was great to see the joy from the members of Henry Ponsonby’s syndicate as Tom Marquand’s mount was led in.
This was a big win for Marquand too whose hopes of a maiden win at Royal Ascot two weeks earlier were not quite realised.
You had to feel some sympathy, though, for Dubawi Fifty who had not run since being second in the 2018 Ascot Stakes. Karen McLintock, who trains just 20 miles away from Gosforth Park, so nearly pulled off a big local win.
Like Who Dares Wins, Dubawi Fifty is due one, surely, as his other near misses also include making the frame in the Cesarewitch and Chester Cup, both of which stretched his stamina. Perhaps dropping him back for the Ebor next month is worth considering?
SOVEREIGN WIN BLOW TO DERBY FORM
What an extraordinary turn up it was to see Sovereign, in as a pacemaker, duly make all in the Irish Derby. He didn’t just win it, he absolutely hacked up under Padraig Beggy to throw the form of the male Classic generation all over the place.
The Derby winner, Anthony Van Dyck, never looked like picking up his stablemate in the closing stages and looked very one-paced while Epsom runner-up Madhmoon was a bitter disappointment and well beaten.
But at least it provided a bit of drama and excitement in a race that is so often lacking in that.
I wonder how the Coolmore marketing department will see this result? How will Sovereign be hyped up after his previous seven defeats? Was this a one-off or will he go on and win more races, maybe even a St Leger?
What now for Anthony Van Dyck? The form omens were not good at Epsom as there were too many horses too close together that day. He is an admirable colt but I wonder if Team Ballydoyle believes he is at or near the top of their pecking order?
Japan was a close fourth in the Derby and was extremely impressive in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot. Perhaps he is the one that will be chosen to spearhead the Ballydoyle challenge back at Ascot in the King George later this month.
We might have more of an immediate clue about whether the three-year-old colts are any good from Saturday’s Coral-Eclipse at Sandown, which features the long-awaited return of Enable.
RETURN OF ENABLE
British racegoers have not seen much of Enable in the past two years because three of her four starts were in France (twice) or the United States.
The exception was last year’s September Stakes at Kempton when she took advantage of the 8lb she received from Crystal Ocean.
Back in the Coral-Eclipse – her first start since November - she tackles ten furlongs for only the second time in her life having suffered her only defeat at that trip back in 2017.
Although it would be a fantastic achievement to win, you suspect that she is being tuned up for the King George. The Eclipse has never been a great race for the fillies, either, with only Pebbles (1985) and Kooyonga (1992) making the role of honour.
That stat might be used against Magical too, Enable’s old rival, who has been kept busy and chased home Crystal Ocean in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes last time.
Ryan Moore faces a tough choice between her and Circus Maximus who dropped back in trip to land the St James’s Palace Stakes.
Third in that race was Too Darn Hot who was beaten a length, the same distance behind Telecaster in the Dante at York. But Too Darn Hot was not fit at York and had gone to Ascot with much more stable confidence behind him.
But then we come back to the argument touched on above – are the three-year-olds much cop?
Filly or not, it has to be Magical for me.
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