Stoute Eyes Up Next Stable Star

Expert Eye follows his lead horse as Sir Michael Stoute looks on | Emma Berry

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The sleek chestnut leaps in the air and performs a pirouette, his rider sitting tight as he sends the colt on to join the other horses warming up in the walking circle at Sir Michael Stoute's Freemason Lodge.

“That's Ulysses, in case anyone's interested,” the trainer remarks casually to the assembled press pack and saunters past, humming as he goes.

A dual Group 1 winner on his way to Del Mar for one last hurrah in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf can hardly be regarded as a mere aside. But while Ulysses (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) is the anointed head of the famous Newmarket stable, there's a young usurper stretching his athletic limbs in an adjacent ring who goes by the name of Expert Eye (GB) (Acclamation {GB}).

The Juddmonte blueblood is the one we've come to see this slightly dank autumn morning, just four days in advance of his first test at the highest level in the G1 Darley Dewhurst S. on Newmarket's Rowley Mile. The coats on many of the thoroughbreds around town may be thickening slightly as winter starts to hint ominously at its inevitable return but Expert Eye's quarters gleam as they protrude from his exercise sheet even without the benefit of early sunshine.

“This fellow just came along and was naturally precocious,” says Stoute, a man more normally acclaimed as a genius at patiently coaxing the best from progressive types such as stable stars of yore Singspiel (Ire), Opera House (GB), Pilsudksi (Ire) and Conduit (Ire).

It's 31 years since the trainer last won the Dewhurst with Ajdal, and though the likes of Green Desert and Russian Rhythm have done plenty to advertise his skill in harnessing juvenile talent, Stoute remains firmly associated with older middle-distance horses.

“We've had precocious 2-year-olds, but we don't seem to get them nowadays. That gives us an imbalance which I don't desire but that's that,” he states.

Expert Eye has already done his bit to buck that trend this season. The second foal of juvenile winner Exemplify (GB), a Dansili (GB) half-sister to the top-class Special Duty (GB) (Hennessy), and the product of a mating with a speedy sire outside Juddmonte's own dominant stallion ranks, he was able to win nicely on debut in a Newbury maiden in June before routing his rivals in the G2 Qatar Vintage S. at Glorious Goodwood. Behind him that day, at a remove of five and a half lengths and eight lengths respectively, were the subsequent Group 2 winners James Garfield (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) and Seahenge (Scat Daddy), lending an air of solidity to the form.

“I contemplated going to the Curragh [for the National S.] but he had a bit of an infection when we scoped him,” Stoute says, explaining the colt's absence from the racecourse since Aug. 1.

“That knocked that out of the way so we trained him for the Dewhurst. He seems in good shape now. He's a good-looking horse and is very athletic, but he's better looking now that he's won a Group race.”

As Expert Eye cruises along Newmarket's Al Bahathri gallop in the wake of a lead horse he could easily be mistaken for a 3-year-old and Stoute concedes that the colt's early maturity boosted the trainer's confidence ahead of Goodwood.

He says, “Before he ran we knew he was pretty smart as he was showing plenty of speed. He's very well balanced, well developed and mature. We didn't know he'd win like he did at Goodwood but we knew he'd win.”

Even before he's notched a Group 1, Expert Eye is already a short price to give Stoute his sixth victory in the 2,000 Guineas next May. The benefit of Stoute's 45 years of experience in the training ranks, however, dissuades him from waxing lyrical about adding another name to his roll call of 15 British Classic winners.

He says simply, “We'll see what happens on Saturday.”

Whatever does happen, it seems likely that the trainer won't have to look too far to fill the void left by Ulysses when he boards the plane for California and returns not to Freemason but to his new lodgings at Cheveley Park Stud.

 

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