Weekly Wrap for Sept. 26

Two Group 1 winners at 25-1, within 40 minutes and over the same strip of ground, and people still can't see what had been happening all through the meeting?

Very rarely do you see so many horses outside their comfort zone, so far out, as in the sport staged on the Rowley Mile this week. Think of the number of times you have watched whole groups of horses finishing off their races over this ancient turf: switched off early, organised through the Dip, and then bounding up to the post. This week, race after race, you saw the same thing: horses quickly off the bridle, horses reluctant to stretch, horses jamming the gearstick.

Nobody seemed to have any issues with the track's preparation, and it literally goes with the territory that Mother Nature will sometimes test a horse's capacity to handle firm ground in the autumn no less than she might deal out the odd Royal Ascot on heavy going. And of course we're getting to the end of the campaign. A lot of horses are low on fuel, not least after such a notorious season for viruses, and no longer able to suppress the cumulative effect of their various niggles.

There was a good deal of talk about a strong headwind as the meeting went on, but that represented just the rock to a genuinely hard place. And the varying degrees of inhibition evident in so many horses mean that proceedings should be reviewed with due circumspection. We should neither condemn nor praise too hastily. Some that seemed to excel perhaps found the bar lowered by conditions inimical to the free expression of superior talents. And some that seemed a little flat, equally, can be credited as simply sewing a stitch in time. Better to hold back for a minute than to lose a year. In that context, then, let's try to unpick one or two specific cases among those who have most at stake for the future: the 2-year-olds.

The Last Straw…

The number crunchers are going to struggle with The Last Lion (GB) (Choisir {Aus}). They could set their clocks against the plateau of form he seemed to have attained through starts four to nine of his busy debut season: Racing Post ratings of 105, 101, 100, 101, 106 and 105. And now he's suddenly supposed to have spiked a 119 in the G1 Juddmonte Middle Park S.?

Of course his success represents due reward for his dauntless connections, above all for the graft and humility of his long-serving rider. And, yes, as his trainer noted, we are too quick to pigeon-hole horses. They are flesh and blood, not software programmes. But that's exactly why many of us would expect a very different outcome if the same field were to reconvene another day, in a more neutral environment.

As it happens, it seems that a rematch is already in mind for the first two in the G1 Commonwealth Cup next June. If that represents another boost for that race's generous Group 1 inauguration, as discussed here recently, then it also confirms the race to be no unmixed blessing. 'TDN Rising Star' Blue Point (Ire) (Shamardal) would surely otherwise be tried over a seventh furlong in something like the G3 Greenham S., and that might well prove a fertile experiment.

Certainly he was in no way diminished by his failure to catch the winner. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for a number of their more interesting rivals. Apologies for returning yet again to Mokarris (More Than Ready), but he really is a source of growing exasperation. If any horse should have handled the fast ground it was this one, with his mini-skirted action, but once again he refused to allow his jockey to ride a race. Pulling so hard early that he almost threatened to pitch over, he must have tremendous ability to get as involved as he did before inevitably fading a couple of spots close home. Yes, he again lacked cover, but he has now had five starts and does not seem to be learning anything. I'd be pretty uncomfortable, in his shoes, next time I saw the vet reaching into a toolbag.

The Real First Lady…?

It sounds as though Wesley Ward also wants to aim 'TDN Rising Star' Lady Aurelia (Scat Daddy) at the Commonwealth Cup, which would again show how the undeniable benefits of the new race come at a cost–this time, to the G1 King's Stand S. Most of us will only believe that this filly can see out a stiff sixth furlong at Ascot when we see it.

Be that as it may, how splendid to see another Group 1 win for Mrs Stockwell's mare Liscanna (Ire) (Sadler's Wells), Brave Anna duly emulating her brother Hit It A Bomb (War Front) at the Breeders' Cup last year. This filly's recent defeats over 7f could prove something of a red herring, the faster conditions almost certainly a more significant factor when you consider that both the Ballydoyle fillies who lassoed the tiring favourite, are by War Front. Santa Anita presumably beckons now, but both Brave Anna and 'TDN Rising Star' Roly Poly are also entitled to enter what has become a wide-open G1 1000 Guineas picture, not least after confirmation by Fair Eva (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Queen Kindly (GB) (Frankel {GB}) that the foals of their invincible rookie sire do not actually have to race against each other in order to be beaten. Both, of course, should for now be indulged defeat this week on the premise set out above.

By the same token we should perhaps qualify the outstanding gains in the division made, very much out of left field, by Spain Burg (Fr) (Sageburg {Ire}) in the G2 Shadwell Rockfel S. Certainly few other animals at the meeting looked so luxuriantly at ease with the conditions. Regardless, she must be counted a fairly stunning advertisement for a stallion shrewdly imported from Normandy to Co Wexford by Denis Hickey of Garryrichard Stud.

A more obviously glamorous background contributes to a suspicion that the most significant performance of the week by a juvenile filly may yet prove to have been the debut success of new 'TDN Rising Star' Talaayeb (GB) (Dansili {GB}) in a 7f maiden the following day.

Things don't appear to have worked out for Owen Burrows with her colossal half-brother Muntazah (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}): after a promising reappearance in the G2 Dante S., he finished last at the Newmarket July Festival and has not been sighted since. But this filly has a rather more practical build and arguably brings together the premier families of two great modern breeders: her sire, of course, being a son of the mighty Juddmonte mare, Hasili (Ire) (Kahyasi {GB}); and her dam being out of a half-sister to Nashwan (Blushing Groom {Fr}) and all that crowd. Albeit Talaayeb was more professional than many in the race, that may simply reflect the fact that she is a very natural athlete. After all, whatever the quibbles and caveats, ground this firm will reliably showcase a horse commendably light on its feet.

Best Days Ahead…

And if not all the meeting's winners were flattered, nor did they all necessarily show their best. 'TDN Rising Star' Best Of Days (GB) (Azamour {Ire}) was one who seemed only just to get away with it in the G2 Juddmonte Royal Lodge S., swaying unhappily as he declined to risk a switch of leads–in the process, no doubt, exaggerating the apparently strong finish of the runner-up.

His fine stride had also become a little cramped, once hitting the front, before he was mugged late at York on his previous start. Both performances would be consistent with either laziness or mental immaturity. But he hardly looked an idle type when streaking six lengths clear on his debut and, judging from the money for him on Saturday, he can't work like one, either. Out of a High Chaparral (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) mare, and with a strong, scopey physique, he has just been laying down foundations so far. Granted some nicer ground, and a good stretch of it, he looks guaranteed to gain massively in conviction and authority next year.