Marten Julian’s Weekly Roundup 31 March 2025

All eyes will be focused on Aintree this week, but on the flat in Ireland it’s possible that we’ve already seen some leading Classic contenders.

Aidan O’Brien suggested last season that he was not going to rush his horses, mindful of the prestigious prizes to be won in the autumn, but even though we are not even in April as I write, he has already run some of his leading Group-class performers.

Trinity College, Camille Pissarro, Henri Matisse, Exactly, Bubbling, Lambourn, Delacroix and Puppet Master had each run in Group company last season, with Camille Pissarro and Henri Matisse winning at the highest level.

With Dermot Weld introducing debutante Tarima, for whom the Irish 1,000 Guineas is a possible target, and Delacroix now as short as 10/1 for the Derby following his victory in the Ballysax Stakes, we might well have seen some of this season’s potential Classic winners in action over the weekend.

It would be interesting to know which of the Ballydoyle runners were expected to win. The market is usually a strong indicator of stable expectations and the best backed of their team was Delacroix, who was supported from 4/5 to 4/7 for the Ballysax Stakes.

The son of Dubawi had been beaten just a nose by Hotazhell in the Group 1 William Hill Futurity last October and on Sunday he made all the running to beat stable-companion Lambourn in workmanlike fashion by two and a quarter lengths. His half-sister Grateful won the Group 1 Prix de Royallieu over 1m 6f so Epsom’s Derby trip should not be a concern. Even at this stage he looks a leading contender.

Mind you, we have been reminded in the last few weeks of the dangers in ante-post betting.

We had the indecision over the Cheltenham target for Lossiemouth and then last week came the news that The Lion In Winter may not be ready in time for the 2,000 Guineas. This came alongside the announcement that Fairy Godmother, who had overcome such adversity to win the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot last June, had not recovered from her subsequent injury and would be retired to stud.

In my early days as a metal badge holder in the Press Box there was a keen interest in ante-post betting … we knew who held vouchers of 10/1 for Shergar in the Derby and 33/1 for Nashwan to land the Guineas/Derby double. I have not fully recovered from not collecting on Dancing Brave at 20/1 and El Gran Senor at 10/1 in the Derby but then I did have 50/1 about a then unnamed colt for the 2,000 Guineas.

I had chatted with Michael Stoute the previous autumn about his team and he ended the conversation with the words “the Mill Reef colt out of Dumka. That’s the one.” The horse was not named at the time, so my betting slip showed the horse’s pedigree.

He was, of course, Doyoun who won the Guineas in 1988.

The Grand National this week was once seen as the second leg of the Spring Double, following the Lincoln, but you don’t hear that phrase used much these days.

The prices on many of the horses in the National have contracted and it would be interesting to know what sort of sums were involved.

Back in 2003 I was closely involved with the gamble on Monty’s Pass, part-owned by my friend Mike Futter, and this year one horse for whom there has been informed support is Hewick, with trainer ‘Shark’ Hanlon advising his chums to take the 66/1 when the market first opened.

The thrills and spills of the Grand National are now things of the past, but the meeting has grown in stature and the support programme is tremendous.

Bye for now

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