David Ord and Nic Doggett with one thing they're looking forward to seeing at the Sky Bet Ebor Festival later this month.
The Dual Classic winners
It's not often you get the chance to see the winners of the Derby and Irish Derby, Oaks and Irish Oaks in action at the same meeting but you will at York.
Look, it helps when it involves two horses and both are trained by Aidan O'Brien, but for all the understandable hype around the Juddmonte International, the Sky Bet Great Voltigeur promises to be a fascinating heat in its own right on day one.
We know how hard it is to defy a Group One penalty in it, but Los Angeles managed to do so in 2024 and Lambourn is going to be posed the same question this time around en-route to more big days ahead in the autumn. He's not an exciting Derby winner but he's a tough one and somewhat underappreciated. I wonder what he made, gazing over his Ballydoyle stable door, of being usurped as St Leger favourite by stablemate Scandinavia for example?
It might not be quite the test the ante-post market suggests at this stage. Merchant's chances of running are in the balance after a tough race in the Goodwood storms and Carmers is being kept on home shores for his next start, but Amiloc is a proper rival.
Ralph Beckett opted out of a King George bid on the Sunday before Ascot with the unbeaten son of Postponed but the King Edward VII winner is five from five and would get two pounds from his rival on the Knavesmire. Timeform ratings still have Lambourn five clear but Amiloc has a p and an unknown ceiling.
I don't think we're there on that front with Minnie Hauk yet either despite her victories at Epsom and the Curragh. Whirl is doing her bit to boost June form while in the Irish Oaks the ears were pricked and petrol left in the tank as she eventually came clear of Wemightakedlongway.
Aidan can't wait to see her in a truly-run race in against elders and neither can I. The Pertemps Network Yorkshire Oaks is going to have both with a bit of luck and that long, lush straight down the Knavesmire will suit the daughter of Frankel down to the ground.
Estrange might lay in wait after her Lancashire Oaks win last month, Aventure could travel over from France after chasing home Calandagan in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. Very good four-year-olds the pair of them. But with the weight-for-age allowance they're asked to concede nine pounds to Minnie Hauk who is sure to be joined a stablemate or two to ensure at the very least an even gallop.
Given that, and the long York straight, we might get a proper idea of just how high she can fly. (David Ord)
Lady Iman in the Nunthorpe
“Colin [Keane] has been telling me for some time that we are a speed horse and that five furlongs would be her best trip.”
That was Ger Lyons following Lady Iman’s second to Beautify in the six-furlong Airlie Stud Stakes at the Curragh in June and it didn’t take her trainer long to rectify the situation, the filly storming clear in the Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood over the minimum trip a month later.
Her owners, the O’Callaghan family of Tally Ho Stud (or at least some of them), are keen on supplementing her for the Nunthorpe where she would bid to become the sixth winning two-year-old, and the first since Kingsgate Native landed the 2007 renewal. His preceding race? The Molecomb.
The O’Callaghans have had some skin in the game with a juvenile filly in the Nunthope before, as they bred The Platinum Queen who was second to Highfield Princess in the 2022 renewal having been supplemented for £40,000.
Despite the possible presence of fellow two-year-old True Love, Curragh speedster Arizona Blaze and Australian mare Asfoora, that sort of figure could look good business come 3.36 on Friday 22 August. (Nic Doggett)
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