Take Too For Juvenile Champion

A month is a very long time in horse racing and that was roughly what it took for Too Darn Hot (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) to move from the central brain of the sport's followers after he was sidetracked from the G1 2000 Guineas. Now that Magna Grecia (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who was widely held as the inferior of the two in 2018 despite his meritorious achievements, has inherited his space it is up to the colt who is the product of the Lloyd-Webbers' perfect breeding storm to carry out some dethroning. That has to happen on the merciless open plain of The Curragh which has served Ballydoyle so well down the years, almost the “home soil” of the Co. Tipperary outfit so often do they occupy the prime positions in the contests that matter.

John Gosden seems to grow in stature with each passing week in a Newmarket now absent of the charisma of its late king, Sir Henry Cecil. Almost the Warren Place of the heyday 1980s, Clarehaven Stables is a rival of Ballydoyle as much as that yard was in the days of Dr Vincent O'Brien and last season Too Darn Hot looked one who could take it to another dimension. His defeat in York's G2 Dante S. appears down to a combination of lack of peak fitness at a trip that is his maximum against a colt in Telecaster (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) who is certain to take high rank this term, so in many ways the homebred's aura is undiminished.

Therefore it is not without an element of risk that Gosden pitches the 'TDN Rising Star' into the G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas nine days later, but those who study the trainer's customary methodology know that no gamble is taken lightly.

“I'm in complete trepidation about the whole idea of running there, but it was my idea,” he said. “I think we are being very sporting. You could easily just wrap him up in cotton wool and go to Ascot, but he's a racehorse just full of joy and energy who wants to race, so we'll let him and if he bounces, I'll take the blame.

“It's not a normal way you approach a Classic, by running over an extended mile and a quarter, finishing second, having done nothing since the previous October but I don't have time on my side,” Gosden continued. “He was giving me the signals to run and I wouldn't have done so if he was giving me any others. It's a Classic, it's a lovely track and I think the mile at The Curragh will suit him. I wasn't disappointed after York–I got there in a hurry and paid the price, but I didn't want to be cowardly and just back off.”

Gosden also revealed that the prospect of winning a Classic was also a prompting factor. “I suppose that is probably part of it, too–that it is the last chance to get a Classic, because through no fault of his own he couldn't run in the English one so we will have a go at this one. Let's hope I'm not asking him too difficult a question. It looks a very smart Irish 2000 Guineas, but we are looking forward to running in it. I just hope we get a clean race and may the best horse win.”

There was no Too Darn Hot equivalent in attendance when the likes of Rock of Gibraltar (Ire), Gleneagles (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Churchill (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) doubled up here for Aidan O'Brien after Newmarket. It may be that Magna Grecia will have to be in the Henrythenavigator mold to see off the Gosden runner, as that former top miler did to the high-class New Approach (Ire) in 2008. At present, with some solid but unspectacular juvenile form behind him and a Guineas triumph gained under some controversy due to talk of pace and draw bias, he still has a point to prove in this company. While it could be argued he effectively beat only two rivals in an unusual renewal of the Newmarket Classic three weeks ago, one of which set off too fast and burned out, the general feeling is that he is still an improving colt. “He seems to be in good form since Newmarket,” O'Brien said. “He handles the ground–it was fast in Newmarket. It's a good, competitive race.”

That may also apply to Abdulla Al Khalifa's homebred Skardu (GB) (Shamardal), who finished best of the group racing up the centre when third in the Guineas having won the course-and-distance G3 Craven S. on Apr. 17. To all intents and purposes, the William Haggas trainee is still of a mind that he has yet to be beaten in a fair race and he is dangerously unexposed.

“It is a rematch and a lot has been made of the Guineas at Newmarket, but I still think that the best horse won on the day there,” Haggas said. “I do believe that Magna Grecia was in an advantageous part of the track, but I do think he would have won wherever he'd have been that day. Skardu is in very good form and now I just hope he takes the journey well and the ground stays dry. We had good days at The Curragh last year and it would be nice to continue this season.”

Runner-up to Too Darn Hot in the G2 Champagne S. and to Magna Grecia in the G1 Vertem Futurity Trophy at Doncaster, Tony Wechsler and Ann Plummer's Phoenix of Spain (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) faces the unenviable task of re-engaging without a prep and this may be more of a case of getting him back underway than meeting elevated expectations. “We feel that The Curragh is going to suit him very much and the trip will suit him,” trainer Charlie Hills commented. “I think he has got a very good each-way chance in the race. His form looks rock solid and that is always encouraging to see.”

Other domestically-trained hopes on the fringes include Paddy Twomey's Decrypt (GB), who took a seven-furlong conditions race at Cork on Apr. 20, and His Highness The Aga Khan's unbeaten Shelir (Ire), who captured the Listed Tetrarch S. also over seven here on May 6. Both by Dark Angel (Ire), they are part of that remarkable sire's new generation of horses bred to get further than sprint distances. Twomey said of the former, “Decrypt beat some smart winners at Cork last month. He travelled through the race well and quickened away and did it within himself. It was a nice comeback for him and the logical next step for him is up in class.”

It is notable that Dermot Weld is happy to chance Shelir despite his inexperience and said, “He is a straightforward colt; he is a good-actioned horse,” he explained. “He has had no hold-ups, so we are all set and looking forward to running him in the Guineas at the weekend.”

Friday's draw for Sunday's G1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas saw the other double-seeker Hermosa (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in stall two with Ryan Moore booked, having deserted his ride in the Newmarket Classic, Just Wonderful (Dansili {GB}). Just nine fillies line up, but it is an intriguing cast including the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches third East (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and the G1 Prix Morny heroine Pretty Pollyanna (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}).

Away from the Classic action on a busy Saturday, Haydock hosts the G2 Sandy Lane and G2 Temple S. which have become as much Royal Ascot sprint trials as leading races in their own right. In the former, 'TDN Rising Star' Calyx (GB) (Kingman {GB}) warms up for a G1 Commonwealth Cup bid with just three rivals prepared to take aim. Juddmonte's star of an incredible crop by their sire in the ascendant only has to reproduce his G2 Coventry S. and G3 Pavilion S. efforts to comfortably account for Jaber Abdullah's G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte scorer Hello Youmzain (Fr) (Kodiac {GB}), who reverts to sprinting after finishing fourth in the G3 Greenham S. over seven furlongs on Apr. 13.

John Gosden has a big day on Saturday and said of Calyx, “We always wanted to go there. It is an awful long time from the Pavilion to the Commonwealth. It is nicely set in the programme. He is in good form and I hope the ground is not too fast for him. He needs to race–he has only run three times in his whole career, so the more experience of racing he gets, the better.”

In the Temple, last year's winner Battaash (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) squares up to the penalised G1 Prix de l'Abbaye heroine Mabs Cross (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) and Kachy (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}) who seems to be still progressing. Life is never dull with the mercurial Battaash around and trainer Charlie Hills believes Shadwell's 5-year-old to be in a good place at present. “He seems a happy horse,” he said after reporting that the 2017 Abbaye winner had undergone minor wind surgery. “It looks like there will be some pace on and we like to be up there as well.”

Mabs Cross has already defied an extra burden in Newmarket's G3 Palace House S. on May 4 and trainer Michael Dods is happy to raise the bar with her again. “The penalty makes life difficult, giving weight to the likes of Battaash, but she's well,” he commented. “It's a small field and it looks like they'll go pretty quick with Battaash, Kachy and Caspian Prince too.”

Sprinters also get their turn at The Curragh on Saturday, with the G2 Weatherbys Ireland Greenlands S. featuring the improving Urban Beat (Ire) (Red Jazz) who beat the subsequent listed winner Soffia (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}) in the Listed Woodlands S. at Naas on Apr. 29. The card also has the G2 Lanwades Stud S. in which Lael Stable's G1 Prix de la Foret heroine One Master (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) tries to give three pounds away, including to last year's G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. runner-up I Can Fly (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}). William Haggas said of One Master, “She is a lovely filly. I was going to run her in the Lockinge, but then had a change of heart and thought I'd race against fillies. She's in good form, I just hope she's not too fresh.”

York stages a fascinating staying contest for fillies and mares, with the G3 Bronte Cup contested by a potential improver in that category in Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum's Listed Daisy Warwick Fillies' S. winner Enbihaar (Ire) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}), while at Goodwood Khalid Abdullah's son of Heat Haze (GB) (Green Desert), Mirage Dancer (GB) (Frankel {GB}), bids for back-to-back renewals of the Listed Tapster S. Also successful in the G3 Glorious S. here in August, he was last in the G1 Hong Kong Vase but at five could be the latest Sir Michael Stoute performer to fully bloom.

“It is great to see him back, as he had a pretty horrible time in Hong Kong what with the trip and everything,” racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe said. “He just got back and had a temperature. He took a while to get right and needed a good break, so they have done tremendously well to bring him back. This was the race he won last year, so that sets quite a nice precedent. I think the main thing is we are looking for him to get back on track and have a nice run. It is somewhere he knows and it is a track he handles, so that is always a good starting point.”

Shadwell's 'TDN Rising Star' Elarqam (GB) (Frankel {GB}) is also in action on the Sussex Downs attempting to claw his way back to where the Mark Johnston stable always thought he would be. The son of Attraction (GB) (Efisio {GB}) appears in the Listed Festival S. against Thundering Blue (Exchange Rate), who beat him into third in the G2 York S. in August. “He has been very frustrating, but his problems have been well documented,” Shadwell's racing manager Angus Gold said of Elarqam. “He has always looked a rather heavy sort of horse, but I saw him last week and for the first time in a very long time I thought he looked much better. He looked a more athletic horse and I think a mile and a quarter is the way to go with him. I'm not sure he wants fast ground down a hill, so that would be my only caveat, but he is in good shape and we need to get on with him.”