Commemorative Edition

With the French raider Grey Lion (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) now absent, the latest renewal of the G3 Sandown Classic Trial has been robbed of some excitement even allowing for the presence of last year’s G3 Autumn S. winner Commemorative (GB) (Zamindar). Khalid Abdullah’s strong-galloping chestnut found the Santa Anita circuit too sharp when seventh in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at the end of October and should benefit from a step up in trip and return to a more suitable track as he bids to defy a penalty for his Newmarket exploits. 

“Commemorative has done well over the winter and is a big horse now,” trainer Charlie Hills commented. “As a result it’s taken a long time to get him fit, although he worked well with [last weekend’s G3 Greenham S. winner] Muhaarar at Lingfield a couple of weeks ago. This is also a fact-finding mission regarding his trip.” 

Derrick Smith, Susan Magnier and Michael Tabor’s Cape Clear Island (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) may be a sighter for Aidan O’Brien as he weighs up the Derby contenders, but he may be more than that if he can build on his return success in Newmarket’s £200,000 Tattersalls Millions 3-Y-O Trophy eight days ago, while seven-times winning trainer John Gosden relies on Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Snoano (GB) (Nayef). He was fifth in what was probably a below-par edition of Doncaster’s G1 Racing Post Trophy in October and needs to show he can handle this livelier surface.