Mike Cattermole: Guineas reflections and more
Top broadcaster Mike Cattermole reflects on the Newmarket Classics including Godolphin's frustration and Billesdon Brook's long-odds win.
Billesdon Brook is great for racing
The late Sir Peter O’Sullevan was a pretty shrewd judge when it came to taking a view and putting on a bet, but even he would admit that sometimes it totally baffled him. A surprise winner would be described as “one that was hard to find.”
I have no doubt that he would have uttered those very same words after watching Billesdon Brook’s unexpected but very deserved win in Sunday’s 1,000 Guineas at record odds of 66/1.
We all knew that the daughter of Champs Elysees was talented – indeed, her win at Goodwood last August in the Telegraph Nursery Handicap was truly extraordinary. How she managed to get up after suffering a nightmare passage beggared belief and is well worth a look if you haven’t seen it before.
Remember when Billesdon Brook did THIS at Glorious Goodwood last summer? #1000GuineasWinner pic.twitter.com/trWpC6rGXC
— Racing UK (@Racing_UK) May 6, 2018
However, to do what she did at the weekend represented an enormous leap forward.
She reversed May Hill running with Laurens from Doncaster last September to the tune of over five lengths and the more recent Nell Gwyn form with Soliloquy represented nearly a nine-length turnaround.
I would imagine that her trainer Richard Hannon was as stunned as all of us and won’t need reminding that he failed to give her even a mention in his stable tour published in the Racing Post at the end of March!
However, although her win was hard to explain using traditional methods of the formbook, it was no doubt welcomed with a smile by all of those trainers, owners and breeders who don’t dine at racing’s very top table.
For one simple reason – it is proof that they are in with a chance.
And how about Sean Levey? This was obviously a huge breakthrough for him personally but a bigger one generally as, at last, a British Classic has been won by a man of mixed race. This has been common in the USA of course but now we too can promote a positive message to those of similar backgrounds who may be considering a career in the sport.
Royston Ffrench and Saleem Golam, both former apprentice champion jockeys, have both played their part in establishing the groundwork for this. It is a pity that neither man has been afforded the opportunities at the highest level in recent seasons and while on this, let’s all wish Royston a speedy recovery after suffering multiple injuries in a fall at Jebel Ali earlier this year.
But if Billesdon Brook caused such a glass ceiling to be smashed, the other side of her success was one steeped in proper English turf tradition as she was bred at Stowell Hill Stud by the legendary Bob McCreery.
McCreery, who died on Christmas Eve in 2016, certainly left his mark on our sport. An outstanding champion amateur rider in the 1950s, he became one of the most successful and knowledgeable breeders in the land and was responsible for breeding 2,000 Guineas winner High Top and also the dual Derby winner Old Vic, among many others.
Godolphin frustration
Charlie Appleby’s wait for his first Classic winner goes on but I am sure he would have learned much from the first two Classics of the season. Winners were flowing for him at the meeting but not where it really mattered.
Masar ran a perfectly good race when third in the 2,000 Guineas but he merely confirmed his brilliant win in the Craven rather than building on it. Perhaps we should have expected that as it was his third start of the year and Roaring Lion, swatted aside in the Craven, made up more than eight lengths on him.
Still, he remains a contender for the Investec Derby although to watch the way Saxon Warrior went through the race - and with almost guaranteed improvement to come - it requires an imagination of Billesdon Brook proportions to see the form being reversed.
Meanwhile, in the 1,000 Guineas, the stable’s first string Soliloquy finished behind two fillies who had trailed her in the Nell Gwynn.
However, Wild Illusion’s fourth sets her up nicely for a tilt at the Investec Oaks over a trip that should see her coming into her own. Appleby’s wait might have been extended but it may not be that long.
Phoenix Thoroughbreds - not a smooth start
Jeremy Noseda announced this week, through social media, that Phoenix Thoroughbreds had removed all of their 14 horses from Shalfleet Stables. The trainer was given “no reason or explanation for the decision.”
In just over a year, Phoenix Thoroughbreds, a Luxemburg-based bloodstock investment fund founded by Bahrainian Amer Abdulaziz, has gone a long way from a standing start.
They have been splashing out millions at the sales and had good winners both here and in the US, where the majority of their horses are trained by Bob Baffert.
Noseda and Phoenix suffered a setback last month when plans to take four-time winner Gronkowski to the Kentucky Derby had to be scrapped after the colt developed an infection.
It would be disheartening if that has had something to do with the decision to leave Noseda or indeed the fact that Walk In The Sun failed a drugs test after winning at Kempton in January – something that the trainer reported to the owners as soon as he was aware but is still to be dealt with by the BHA.
Whatever, this is a major body blow for the Newmarket trainer who has played a massive part behind the scenes in Phoenix’s development.
However, Noseda’s sacking is just the latest in Phoenix’s short history. Their original retained rider Gerald Mosse lasted for just a handful of rides and, more recently, the team’s European bloodstock agent, Kerri Radcliffe, Noseda’s estranged wife, was also shown the door.
The Phoenix team could have some very good reasons for their operational conclusions and it is entirely their business but, even so, a jockey, trainer and bloodstock agent is quite a hit list in such a short space of time.
Mendelssohn far from composed
When I got in on Saturday evening and tuned into the live coverage of the Kentucky Derby on ATR, my heart sank when I saw the weather conditions at Churchill Downs.
There is something about racing on very sloppy dirt that I feel uneasy about and in Mendelssohn’s case, I felt that any chance he had had was gone well before he was outmuscled and squeezed out twice soon after leaving the stalls. Those sort of conditions were completely alien to him.
Yes, Justify looked like a monster and handled the circumstances brilliantly but I genuinely thought that Mendelssohn was at least going to take a hand in the finish and it just goes to show that everything has to go right when you head out with the intention of coming home in front in the “Run for the Roses”.
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