by James Willoughby
Unlike world title fights, showdowns between Great Horse A and Great Horse B are sometimes won by C, D or even E. It is one of the enduring truths of the sport that every horse has its price.
In the much-vaunted clash between Able Friend and Solow which kicks off Royal Ascot in the G1 Queen Anne S., it may be worth giving some air time to the horse who leads the domestic challenge and may be a shade underrated, Night Of Thunder.
Don't get me wrong: Able Friend, the Hong Kong superstar, and the brilliant Dubai winner Solow are worth every word lavished on them in the wealth of preview ink spilt all round the world. There can be no doubt that these two horses are brilliant winners in their domain, and rightly reside near the head of any sane individual's world rankings.
It is important to recognise the significance of this clash to the Royal Ascot meeting–and what it says about global racing in the round. Foreign-trained challengers are not a new thing here, but the regularity of their participation, and the respect they are rightly afforded in betting markets now, says volumes for how far the sport has progressed. Racing is a global sport and its superstars by and large have international resonance.
What a spectacle it could be if Able Friend and Solow throw it down through the final half-furlong. But the brilliance of most horses, however widely celebrated, sometimes proves to be also a function of their environment. It is a rare horse who is impervious to circumstance, who can prevail no matter how the layout of the track, no matter what the state of the ground, no matter what the emphasis is on speed or stamina, early or late pace. Even Frankel was not thought capable of carrying his speed to a mile and a half, nor of taking on the Americans on dirt.
In the case of the Queen Anne, it could be that two brilliant horses are running into another who happens to be well suited by the test which the Queen Anne will throw up. For, it is fair to say, that Night Of Thunder can be brilliant himself on a straight track and off a strong gallop–the particular circumstances that should prevail in this eight-runner affair with a habitual front-runner in Glory Awaits, and others who might push the pace like Toormore.
Last May, Night Of Thunder won the straight-track G1 2,000 Guineas with a performance of insane quality (video). That he beat Kingman did not fit with the narrative of the season, nor with evidence of the pair's subsequent clash on a round track in the G1 St James's Palace S. at Royal Ascot last year, when Kingman laughed at his Newmarket conqueror. Fair enough: Kingman richly deserved to be regarded as the much superior horse on balance, but he wasn't that day. Night Of Thunder won despite veering across the track.
Every time you watch Able Friend, the same internal monologue is provoked: “Good grief, that is absolutely brilliant.” His G1 Champions Mile win last time, for instance, was just ridiculous; under such fast conditions as are common at Sha Tin, how can a horse possibly express such disdain for his rivals; how can he look as if running at such speed is so easy?
At the same time, it seems as if the tempo of Hong Kong races, the position of the bend, the stop-start environment, the test of acceleration, must be to his liking. Ascot is different; it is attritional; it is stiff; it is unrelenting. Perhaps it will suit him also, in which case we are in for a treat.
For his part, Solow is also a horse of amazing ability. I will not belabour the point with the data this time. Suffice to say, the sectionals he runs are off-the-charts good and have an unusual element–he has twice run races where he actually gets faster in stages, which is a combination of his having very strong stamina and a turn of foot.
Again, however, the Queen Anne test of a straight mile is something new to him. Okay, if a horse can ship to Dubai and still demolish his rivals, as Solow did in the G1 Dubai Turf (video) in March, it seems a little contrary to doubt his versatility when he is also dominant on soft turf back home in France. But, to twist the old saying: to believe is human, to doubt is to be a punter.
Races don't follow the narrative anywhere near enough to suspend disbelief in the effects of randomness and circumstance; and when you find horses who can take their game any place, anywhere, it only increases respect in their ability. Solow might well do that and confirm the notion that he is the best in the world.
The best thing that could possibly happen for the glory of the sport is the two global champions meet their cue; a stirring duel with Solow striking for home as Able Friend stalks him and begins to accelerate like a wild horse. But these imaginings leave out Night of Thunder, a horse who only scrambled home in the steadily run G1 Lockinge S. on a straight track at Newbury last time, but who, when granted the additional platform of a strong gallop, beat fellow Group 1 winners Kingman, Australia, Charm Spirit and The Grey Gatsby in remarkable fashion in last year's Guineas.
It's perfectly reasonable to bill the Queen Anne as a match. Able Friend and Solow have earned it. At the same time, however, there just may be more depth to the race than some expect.
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