Weekend entries: Aidan O'Brien targets Chelmsford feature
David Ord takes a look at the entries for some of the weekend feature races including a potentially fascinating heat under the lights at Chelmsford.
You may have noticed the Road To Cheltenham has come to an end.
I know, I know, we’ll be back on it sooner than you’d like in the autumn but for now let’s set sail for pastures new. How does Churchill Downs sound?
Well. On Saturday Chelmsford stages the Woodford Reserve Cardinal Conditions Stakes and guess what, it’s a Road To The Kentucky Derby race.
Points snared here will go towards a horse's final tally on the European Road – and the winner of that grabs an automatic spot in Louisville in early May.
And Aidan O’Brien might just use it as a stepping stone. He’s entered two in the weekend feature, Capulet and Gasper De Lemos.
The former is a son of Justify who would bring rock-solid two-year-old form with him on the plane from County Tipperary.
A winner on debut at Dundalk in August, he went on to give Diego Velazquez an almighty fright in the Champion Juvenile at Leopardstown before finishing third in the Royal Lodge, where the track and the lack of a searching gallop to aim at, seemed to be against him.
Gasper De Lemos is another son of Justify and also the winner of one of three as a juvenile. That was on start two at the Curragh and he ran to the same Timeform performance figure of 99 when second to Arabian Crown in the Zetland Stakes subsequently. From the family of Alice Springs you’d expect he could soar higher at three.
But unlike on the Road To Cheltenham there’s a meaningful home defence lying in wait. Well, there could be as a host of them also hold entries in the Virgin Bet Best Odds Daily British EBF Conditions Stakes at Kempton earlier in the afternoon.
They include the Charlie Appleby pair of Bold Style and Notable Speech. The former was beaten on debut at Wolverhampton in November but made no mistake at Chelmsford three weeks later, winning with plenty in hand.
Notable Speech is two from two and an exciting son of Dubawi. Both wins came at Kempton at the start of the calendar year and the way he beat Cuban Tiger having been forced to wait for racing room marked him down as one for the ‘could be anything’ folder.
Joseph O’Brien’s dual winner Atlantic Coast and Bergamasco, on a roll of late at Dundalk for Jack Davison, are other potential Irish runners while Haynes, Hanson & Clark winner Bracken’s Laugh and the globetrotting Horris Hill hero Orne are other notable English-trained entries.
Meanwhile other notable names in the frame for the Kempton race include Valvano, a runaway winner of his sole start at two for Ralph Beckett.
There’s a fillies' conditions race at 3.50 on the Sunbury card too and it’s attracted a couple of interesting daughters of Kingman.
First up is Devoted Queen who is 25/1 for the 1000 Guineas and the owner of a large Timeform P.
She earned that – and a master rating of 91 - when beating Vicario by two-and-a-quarter lengths on debut at Newmarket in October. A half-sister to One Ruler, she’s exciting and so is the Roger Varian-trained Elmalka. She made her only start to date in less salubrious surroundings, for all Southwell in November has its own charms, but warmed up the winter night by beating Miss Kubelik in the style of a filly who can go a fair bit higher.
Look, it’s not the most exciting weekend of the season and the key action is likely to be at Leopardstown on Sunday, but there’s enough on the domestic front to keep us interested ahead of Aintree, the Craven and the delights of the spring.
And if Aidan fancies stepping onto the Road to Kentucky perhaps we should enjoy the journey alongside him. There are worse things to do on a rainy Saturday night anyway.
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