Auguste Rodin looks a good shout for 2,000 Guineas
IT’S Classics Weekend, and on Saturday we have the 2,000 Guineas starting at 4.40, an hour later than normal in case the Coronation overruns – although yesterday morning an internet search for the race’s start time still showed it at 3.40 according to the first Jockey Club result that appeared.
The 2,000 looks like a good renewal. Ballydoyle’s Auguste Rodin did nothing wrong last year and gets the mile well. The main danger may be that it will prove too short for him, but a 15-strong field ought to mean a decent pace, which will counteract that. Stable-mate Little Big Bear was dynamite over six and six-and-a-half furlongs at The Curragh in the summer. However, he wasn’t seen after August 6, and there is a doubt about whether he’d last a mile. Then there’s the Godolphin pair Noble Style – unbeaten in three outings but untried beyond six furlongs – and Silver Knott, who went down by a nose in the Breeders’ Cup Turf over a mile.
Frankie Dettori’s tumble from Chaldean in the Greenham wasn’t the ideal preparation, but the horse did a nice bit of exercise running loose, leading the field for most of the way albeit carrying nine stone less than the rest. He won four races in a row last year, ending with the Dewhurst. The Coles’ Royal Scotsman was beaten only a neck by Chaldean there and he has to be a threat, although the yard hasn’t had a winner for six months. Sakheer looked good winning the Mill Reef, but again stamina must be taken on trust. Trainer Roger Varian said at the time, “I think he’ll stay seven furlongs and maybe a mile.”
All of these could be worthy winners. Auguste Rodin is the most likely, but Silver Knott’s Breeders Cup effort makes his 12/1 more appealing than the favourite’s 6/4.
The 1,000 Guineas on Sunday is at the usual time of 3.40. The Dermot Weld-trained Tahiyra is 9/4 favourite as much for the record of her owner, the Aga Khan, as her form. Remarquee, saddled by Ralph Beckett – who has a fine record with fillies – has been supported from 50/1 a fortnight ago to 7/1, suggesting she’s worked well at home.
There are plenty of other lightlyraced fillies who could suddenly improve and surprise the favourites. It’s a very good card that day, enhance by two races transferred from Sandown’s abandoned flat meeting. Adayar, the rarely sighted 2021 Derby winner, could reappear in the 1.15.
The fuss about the Derby’s start time being changed to 1.30 to accommodate the needs of the football community reminds me of the undercurrent of feeling that it should be moved back to Wednesday, when it was run from 1838 to 1994 apart from during wartime and a few other exceptional years. In the 19th Century Parliament would be adjourned for the day so that MPs could go to Epsom. A genuinely national event, it made headlines with no competition from other sporting events. Running it on a Saturday in June will generally have it clashing with something else.
I doubt the Derby will ever revert to Wednesday, as that could be seen as an admission that it was a mistake to have moved it. There is a case for staging it on the Friday, when there is no direct competition.