Mike Cattermole column: Masar backed for Investec Derby
Mike Cattermole predicts big things for Masar over the next couple of months, while touching upon a uniquely dramatic incident at Punchestown.
MASAR NOT TO BE UNDERESTIMATED – FOR THE DERBY
You don’t win Craven Stakes by nine lengths unless you’re pretty smart and that’s what Masar looked when he strode home in brilliant isolation at Newmarket last week.
Measuring what the Charlie Appleby-trained colt actually achieved there is not easy, though, given that Roaring Lion was by no means ready and the runner-up, White Mocha, is rated just 99.
However, sometimes it is just best to trust your own eyes and it was the manner of his acceleration, and the fluency of it while covering one of the most undulating parts of the Rowley Mile, that was so striking.
He didn’t flinch going into, or out of, The Dip and completed the final three furlongs in 34 seconds. That’s going some.
Clearly, Masar was pretty fit last Thursday having had a blowout (of sorts) on the dirt he hated in Meydan last month, while John Gosden was at pains to point out that Roaring Lion was around 20% short of where he wanted him to be for the QIPCO 2,000 Guineas on May 5.
However, the fact that Gosden and Qatar Racing have now decided to skip the Guineas and wait instead for the Dante at York on May 17 cannot be seen as an endorsement for the Craven form.
Remember that Sheikh Fahad Al Thani of Qatar Racing is also part of the QIPCO set-up and a runner in his own colours in a Classic that he, his family members and fellow countrymen sponsor, would have been highly desirable.
Masar should run very well in the Guineas but I have a feeling that this son of Derby winner New Approach is really going to come into his own as a serious Derby prospect himself.
In the Craven he demonstrated a level of athleticism that will be such a huge asset at Epsom. Crucially, he also has some good middle distance blood on the dam’s side of his family, too. His dam won the UAE Derby over 9.5 furlongs and the second dam won at 1m 3f. His third dam, Melikah, was a half-sister to Galileo and Sea The Stars and was placed in both English and Irish Oaks.
Masar is currently a best price 16/1 chance for Epsom with Sky Bet and those odds would at least halve after a solid run on Saturday week.
What must be pointed out, though, is that the Appleby team are clearly well forward right now and that advantage will be steadily eroded over the coming weeks as other big yards catch up following the winter from hell.
Click on the image below for Sky Bet's live Investec Derby odds...
MENDELSSOHN’S FORM LOOKS STRONG
Masar had ended last season in sixth place behind Mendelssohn in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar, although that bare fact tells nothing about the nightmare run that he and Will Buick had throughout the race.
From being squeezed out shortly after the start to be being hampered when trying to improve from the rear before the end of the back straight, he was then forced wide all the way round the home bend and had only one behind him turning in.
The way he then made ground under Buick’s considerate hand riding was admirable and he was only beaten less than three lengths. In the short home straight, he cantered past both James Garfield on the inside and the weakening Sands Of Mali, who finished 10th and ninth respectively.
I mention those two colts because, like Masar, both have won Group Three races in the past few days to add substance to that California form, which has also been franked at a similar level this year in the States by My Boy Jack (twice) in seventh and Flameaway in eighth.
And that’s not to mention Mendelssohn himself of course. No wonder Ryan Moore can’t wait to get out there!
Meanwhile, it looks as though James Garfield has earned himself a crack at the Guineas after his Greenham triumph on Saturday. The performance of Expert Eye in second was interesting as he kept on well enough after pulling hard (as he always does) early on.
He has become something of an enigma as that brilliant turn of foot he showed at Goodwood last summer was nowhere to be seen and one wonders now if he will ever reproduce it.
YOU’D ALSO BE HAPPY ABOUT HAPPILY’S FORM, TOO
Although the Aidan O’Brien-trained Clemmie will be missing from the QIPCO 1,000 Guineas, Happily, the full-sister to Gleneagles, remains very much on target and her high reputation has soared further while she has stayed at home in Ballydoyle.
It looked good when she defeated the boys in the Prix Jean-Lu Lagardere at Chantilly last October but in Olmedo and Masar (second and third), she clearly accounted for two very good colts indeed that day.
Olmedo made his reappearance at Longchamp last week and went down narrowly in a driving finish to the unbeaten Wootton. These two colts look the two outstanding Classic candidates across the Channel and although Wootton might look the more natural miler on pedigree, Olmedo could end up being more of a Prix du Jockey Club type.
They could still dominate the Poulains on May 13 and confirm that what Happily did in the Lagardere was truly exceptional.
She is a best-priced 7/2 favourite for the Guineas with Sky Bet.
UNPRECEDENTED DRAMA AT PUNCHESTOWN
You will never, ever, see a race finish like the Growise Champion Novice Chase at Punchestown on Tuesday. It was both stunning and sensational. I was watching at home and was left open-mouthed while watching Al Boum Photo’s off-beat exit from the race.
There was dismay at the fact that Paul Townend didn’t come clean and admit his mistake right after the race. But I am guessing that the jockey was probably in shock. To go from thinking that he believed he had to avoid the last fence, only to realise within a few nano-seconds that he didn’t, with all of the implications involved, would have been hard to take.
It's taken me a few hours to calm down from that very unfortunate incident yesterday @punchestownrace with Paul Townend.
— Robbie "Puppy" Power (@Robbie_Power_) April 25, 2018
Nobody feels worse than him, just human error. #nohardfeelings #brillliantjockey pic.twitter.com/0Qf7UX3Bvl
Yes, it was a disaster for Townend but it was as much a PR disaster for the Punchestown stewards who could and should, through the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, have issued the details of Townend’s explanation as soon as possible, not the day after.
What caused Townend to do what he did may never be adequately explained but we have all done very odd things when we have been distracted by something playing on our mind. Mick Fitzgerald’s analogy with the motorway driver suddenly realising that he needs to turn off at the very junction that he is about to pass, was quite well chosen.
Townend claimed that someone shouted out but I doubt that would have been the reason that caused his aberration. I believe it would have been something more deep-seated on his mind. Who knows what? We may never know and we may not have the right to know.
Related links
Next Off
Most Followed
MOST READ RACING
