Weekly Wrap by Chris McGrath for Aug. 15

Loose talk costs nominations and American breeders must range from exasperation to downright outrage in hearing some of the wilder European extrapolations from the sad unravelling of Air Force Blue (War Front). Last year's champion juvenile clearly has problems of his own, but that has not prevented some sweeping judgements on this side of the water about the competitive longevity of American blood, in general, or the sire of those outstanding 4-year-olds Declaration Of War (War Front) and The Factor (War Front), in particular.

This is doubtless too fragile a glass house to permit the throwing of too many stones at maverick English perspectives, but the fact is that the global bloodstock business is uniform only in its complexity. Reducing its endless grey areas to black-and-white dogma is mischievous, at best, and otherwise inexcusably trite.

It hardly helped, even so, for Hit It A Bomb (War Front) to produce such an unconvincing performance on his belated return to the fray at Leopardstown on Thursday. In this instance, if anything, you would have to wonder about the attitude of the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner. To be fair, his rider's initial attempt to nurse him home was totally consistent with his trainer's strong sense that the colt needed the run. But there is no denying that Hit It A Bomb meanwhile carried his head at a disconcerting tilt; while it was also notable that he only consented to pass the rival holding him at bay, in the straight, the moment they were both swamped on the outside by the winner.

Of course, he could not be in better hands–and Aidan O'Brien must at least be heartened that the engine seemed to be running as smoothly as ever as the horse ranged up among race-fit group horses. Remember that Hit It A Bomb had to chase them down off a frantic pace at Keeneland, cutting between horses to do so, having still been last of all in the back stretch. It may yet prove that he is a horse best served by that kind of scenario, in which case the all-action, two-turn mile back at the Breeders' Cup in Santa Anita could yet enable him to soothe the disquiet he invited on his comeback.

What a pity that the stakes for his doing so have been bleakly raised, in the meantime, by the news about his stable's top miler, The Gurkha (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). No American horseman, naturally, would be fatuous enough to credit that colt's misfortunes to the frailties of European blood. It would be nice to think that such elementary circumspection might be reciprocated in the future.

Fahey: Quality as Well as Quantity…

With The Gurkha in the wars, the two colts he beat at Goodwood last month squared off in France on Sunday–only one of the pair, however, vindicating the conclusions drawn at the time. True, in his appearance Galileo Gold (GB) (Paco Boy {Ire}) certainly appeared still to be thriving on his busy schedule, but his professionalism and growing tractability deserted him as Dettori sought to settle him in what might have been an easy lead. To be fair, he did not look remotely like a 10f horse this time, nor did he even look a miler. Perhaps he will benefit from a break now, after all, but a pacemaker in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. would now serve him–belt and braces, so to speak–both in conserving and drawing out his reserves.

As for the winner, it should no longer be necessary to keep amplifying the way Richard Fahey has seized a bafflingly rare opportunity to train for one of the sport's superpowers. When Ribchester (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}) made his previous sortie across the Channel, in the spring, he had a sour bearing and looked potentially regressive. You could see echoes of that horse at Deauville, his head carriage at times awkward, but he knuckled down and got the job done. Among the dozens of expensive yearlings about to enter the same ownership, it would seem preposterous should this most numerically fertile of stables fail to be allocated one or two of the very best.

Sweet and Sour for Burrows…

After a reappearance run that matched the expectations raised by his evolving physique, Massaat (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) is now matching the freefall of the colt who beat him into second in the G1 Dewhurst last autumn. The G1 2000 Guineas runner-up seemed to have been found an ideal opportunity to resume his progress in a Group 3 at Salisbury on Thursday, but ran deplorably. Who knows what sinister inferences might be drawn, if only he had an American pedigree?

The winner Zonderland (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) continues to impress with his sheer brawn and, while connections attribute his leftward drift inside the last furlong to idling in front, it would still be interesting to see what kind of punch that physique might pack over a shorter trip.

As for Massaat, Owen Burrows is unusually seasoned for a rookie trainer and let's hope he can get the colt back in business. Regardless, he can console himself with the immensely promising debut at the same track, the previous afternoon, of a juvenile named Akhlaaq (GB) (New Approach {Ire}). Despite racing freely in the early stages, and further betraying his inexperience in a conspicuously green action through the race, he suddenly organised himself to take off and get up in the last strides under no more than a hand ride.

Akhlaaq was so palpably in need of the experience that his success might formerly have been counted an inconvenience, in that he could potentially benefit from another start in maiden company. Nowadays he can go for a novice race, albeit Burrows may yet be satisfied that the colt has learned enough from his debut to be put on a faster track. Either way, Akhlaaq seems to have parallel scope for physical development and is definitely one to keep an eye on.

Girl Power…

One American sire making an impact on European turf this summer is Kitten's Joy, whose flourishing son Hawkbill (Kitten's Joy) is second favourite for the G1 Juddmonte International S at York on Wednesday. And on the same Leopardstown card that hosted the return of Hit It A Bomb, there was an explosive debut from his young daughter Holy Cat (Ire) (Kitten's Joy).

She has a pair of white stockings on her hindlegs you would not find in even the most specialised of Deauville's couture establishments, and an upturned tin of paint instead of a blaze. But she can run, all right, opening up in the straight in a fashion that invited exactly the kind of exclamation connections have vested in her name. She may need to develop a more rounded game as she goes up in grade, but that is an opportunity she plainly deserves for her ambitious young trainer Michael O'Callaghan.

Handsome is as handsome does, of course, and her owner's bloodstock manager, David Redvers, was evidently indebted to many far stranger beasts in completing his epic adventure across the steppes. Our admiration for his completion of the Mongol Derby must be divided between his mounts, “the most incredible animals on the planet,” and those other Corinthian characters who matched his feat–not least the women who comprised five of the six to finish in front of him. A wholesome reminder that no female, least of all Holy Cat, is ever just a pretty face.