Our columnist looks back on the recent key action and has a couple of bets at Sandown on Saturday.
What was your main takeaway from Northumberland Plate day at Newcastle on Saturday?
That Saffie Osborne is getting a well-deserved reputation for being excellent on hold up horses - see her win on Room Service in the opening seven furlong handicap. She consistently outperforms expectations when riding horses that come from the rear of the field, so I’ll be keeping that in mind in the future.
That Alan King continues to be one of the best dual purpose trainers in the country. He has saddled three Group One winners on the flat and 35 Grade Ones under National Hunt rules and continues to be a force in both spheres. He sent out the winner of the Northumberland Vase in the shape of Believeitanducan who has now won three starts in a row since reverting to the flat.
King has also celebrated six Royal Ascot winners including Daiquiri Bay most recently. That horse was third in the Sky Bet Melrose at last year’s Ebor festival and is 33/1 with the sponsors for the Sky Bet Ebor at York in August.
And finally, that I was right to stay on the Tuco Salamanca train after he made it three wins from four at Newcastle, and seven career wins from 18 in total, when successful in the six furlong handicap for trainer Ollie Sangster. The only time he was beaten at Gosforth Park was when unlucky in the 2025 All Weather 3yo Championships Handicap on Good Friday. Maybe Saffie will get the call up to ride him if ever any of his regular riders are unavailable.
How do you reflect on Sunday’s Irish Derby which saw another 1-2-3 for Aidan O’Brien?
Benvenuto Cellini was an 18th winner in this race for Aidan, which extends his record breaking tally in the Classic, but once again he was totally dominant saddling the first three home. The winner literally didn’t put a foot wrong at the Curragh to make amends for his significant misstep at Epsom.
The achievement highlights the advantage the Coolmore team enjoys in middle distance Classic races through its long standing emphasis on stamina in its breeding programme. In an era increasingly leaning towards speed, they have remained steadfast to the traditional middle distance model and are reaping the reward from that approach.
I’m aware that it’s not the only factor behind their colossal success but with the trend leaning towards fast and precocious breeding for swifter financial return, there are fewer owners and/or breeders with deep enough pockets to take them on at that level on the scale that they operate at.
I’m also aware that speed is important for them, but they have yet to subscribe to the view that Derby winners have fallen out of fashion, and it shows.
Which two-year-old from the Curragh over the weekend excited you most?
Well, as usual it was Aidan O’Brien trained horses that topped this poll. I’m going with two. Giant Sequoia followed in the footsteps of some top class Aidan O’Brien trained colts in running in or winning this race. City Of Troy was the biggest name in recent years to win this maiden, and Australia was runner up in it in 2013. Giant Sequoia is now joint favourite with Sky Bet for next year’s Derby at 16/1.
The other blue blood to win was Alpha, a daughter of Sea The Stars out of multiple Group One winning filly Alpha Centauri. She won a maiden on Sunday that O’Brien has won multiple times including for the past five years, most notably in recent years with Lake Victoria in 2024.
Alpha is now 7/1 favourite with Sky Bet to win both the Betfred 1000 Guineas and Oaks in 2027.
Give us your thoughts on the Coral-Eclipse and another horse or two to keep tabs on for next weekend.
This race is one of the first significant clashes of the generations over middle distances, and it is usually a cracker. It’s a case of who rocks up because at the time of writing it’s not clear. If French Derby winner Constitution River takes his place, he’ll be hard to beat with his 10lbs weight for age allowance, but Aidan O’Brien has yet to commit either him or Chantilly runner up Hawk Mountain to the Sandown Group One. It apparently hinges on their mid-week work.
Gethin is a year older so needs to keep progressing to give the weight to the Classic generation but he put up an excellent show when a neck second to subsequent Prince Of Wales’s Stakes winner Ombudsman in the Brigadier Gerard over course and distance at the end of May on his first start since being snapped up by Wathnan Racing. He’ll have a teammate in the shape of frustrating underachiever King’s Gambit who has been supplemented into the race by the owners.
Saddadd needs to step forward from his most recent performance when only third in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh. Like King’s Gambit he is a former winner of the London Gold Cup at Newbury, a handicap that has been a springboard to top level success in the past.
A Boy Named Susie is the only other single figure odds contender for Saturday’s race after he was a creditable fourth in the Prix Du Jockey Club behind Constitution River and Hawk Mountain for trainer Donnacha O’Brien.
This season is proving to be a challenging one for trainer Charlie Appleby who is currently operating at just a 9% strike rate for the past fortnight, which would have been an inconceivable number for a trainer of his calibre in the past. It’s worth saying that his strike rate for the year is an excellent 24% overall but that doesn’t accurately reflect the frustrating time he is enduring. The tide may well turn soon but I’ll be waiting for some glimmers of recovery before siding with his runners with confidence. I hope it happens soon.
With that in mind, maybe RUMSTAR is the one to go with in the Coral Charge. This is his paygrade and he won the race last year for the excellent Jonathan Portman. He was well beaten in the King Charles III at Royal Ascot with a bad draw last time out and he’s sure to run his race.
Classic has been running well this season and if his exertions in the Royal Hunt Cup haven’t taken the edge off him, he can go well again in the Challenge. However, up against him is hold up horse TRIBAL CHIEF, and guess who is jocked up on him at the time of writing? Yes, Saffie Osborne, so let’s see if her first go on this horse can yield a result. He’s has finished third in the Lincoln and Victoria Cup in his two starts this season and was an eyecatcher from the rear both times. He needs luck, but he’s got the right pilot for that job, and he comes here fresher than some.
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