Looking Ahead From Newmarket …
May 2nd, 2021 | Marten's Current Racing Diary
I’m not sure what to make of either of this weekend’s Classics.
It’s in the immediate aftermath of the 2000 Guineas that I look for a Derby colt but I’m not sure I saw an obvious one in Saturday’s field.
Poetic Flare is bred along miling lines and Jim Bolger said afterwards that his programme would probably be built around that trip. Master Of The Seas does not hold an Epsom entry, although he is in the King Edward VII and Irish Derby over the mile and a half.
Lucky Vega has entries for the St James’s Palace Stakes and the Commonwealth Cup, over six furlongs, while although Naval Crown has a middle-distance pedigree he is another that does not have an entry at Epsom.
One Ruler has a Derby entry and may improve more than some from Saturday’s race. Aidan O’Brien said on Sunday that Van Gogh would go directly to Epsom.
Thunder Moon looked as if he hadn’t grown and ran a shocker. He will probably be kept to a mile but now has something to prove.
Looking forward to the Oaks, Aidan O’Brien said that 1000 Guineas fourth Santa Barbara would go directly to Epsom, adding that she would have a programme structured around the second half of the season.
She looked a scopey imposing filly, from what I saw of her from the tv images, and she is bred to stay the trip well. I suspect that in a month’s time we could see much more the finished article.
I don’t envisage Mother Earth being tried over a mile and a half while Saffron Beach’s page comprises of horses at their best up to a mile. The same comment applies to third-home Fev Rover but Statement, who had the stoutest pedigree in the field, surprisingly didn’t get home.
At this stage it looks like Van Gogh and Santa Barbara are the two with Epsom in their sights.
