PAUL JACOBS

Paul Jacobs wonders why Southern France is mssing the Gold Cup

Naps king has found a live shot for the Ascot Gold Cup

It is very hard to argue with Aidan O’Brien on all things equine, after all he is without doubt one of the shrewdest trainers in the history of our sport having been handed the cream of the worlds’ bloodstock.

But you can have all the money in the world and still not put together a winning football team. You have to coach, blend and match them and be tactically savvy. That’s something of course Pep can do, but Jose couldn’t. It’s something Aidan has done time and time again, but Mr Bin Suroor has failed to negotiate….here endeth the comparison.

So back to Mr O’Brien and the bone I have stuck between my teeth labelled Southern France.

Now I have nowhere near the level of equine knowledge of the Ballydoyle trainer and he will see this giant stayer at home every day and get feedback from R L Moore and company, but I am perplexed as to why he sees the Hardwicke Stakes as a better Royal alternative to the Gold Cup.

The first piece of evidence for opposing his view came in the Queen’s Vase last year when he rattled up the home straight from an uncompromising position to finish second behind stable mate Kew Gardens. Subsequent performances in the St Leger, Vintage Crop Stakes and in the Yorkshire Cup only back this up...and yet.

I am presupposing, and I could be wrong and it wouldn’t be the first time, that Ryan came off Southern France

and said to his boss that the four-yearold showed so much speed that he could handle a drop in trip.

But let’s look a bit closer at this. At York he was racing against stayers pure and simple, not relative speed horses. He was probably fitter than Gosden’s champ and tactically was given a terrific ride by Moore to give him every chance as they rolled down the home stretch.

I mean Aidan, come on, do you really think he can beat Crystal Ocean, Enable and Masar over 12 furlongs? Really, really?

In his absence the current champion Stradivarius has obvious claims, but he has a really tough and indeed classy cookie to deal with this time in the form of Godolphin’s globe trotting champion CROSS COUNTER.

His high cruising speed and turn of foot are huge weapons at this level and the way he made Ispolini look like a selling plater in the Dubai Gold Cup was a huge performance.

With just the nine runs under his belt I think it is quite frightening how good this son of Teofilo could be and the only question mark is how he will deal with the extra half mile if they go a solid pillar to post gallop. I suspect that is unlikely as the Gold Cup is normally run at a sedate pace and has for the past few years turned into a three furlong sprint. In essence that would suit Cross Counter down to the ground and makes him an each-way bet to nothing at his current odds of 5/1 if that is indeed the way you wager your hard earned.

The Commonwealth Cup is also interesting with Calyx making this a one horse book. I have penned this column before his proposed run at Haydock Park on Saturday May 25th, but at a top price of 6/4 it makes an each-way play in this newest Royal races worth playing.

Ten Sovereigns, Jash and Shine So Bright would quite obviously come into the equation, but if you are looking for a real biggie then surely HELLO YOUMZAIN fits the bill.

Easy winner of the Criterium de Maisons Laffitte last autumn, the son of Kodiac simply didn’t get home when fourth in the Greenham Stakes at Newbury. That was due mainly to a lack of stamina and because he ran quite freely through the first three furlongs and hopefully that run will have taken the freshness out of him.

On my private ratings I have him about 3lbs behind Calyx with Jash my top rated 4lbs above the Gosden charge so it could be the layers have their offers slightly off set.

There is little doubt that HY would benefit from good ground or maybe slightly softer, but the reason why he is as big as 33/1 is mainly down to him being trained in the north by Kevin Ryan. Had he been under the care of a Gosden, O’Brien, Stoute or an Appleby I suspect he would be trading at around the 12/1 mark.