The Weekly Wrap

Since the abbreviation of the Prix du Jockey-Club, essentially as a brassy temptation to the milers, the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby has largely forfeited its optimal purpose as an opportunity for the Epsom and Chantilly winners to meet in a divisional decider. And the potential to learn anything worthwhile from the latest renewal was further diminished when US Army Ranger (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) evaded conscription in his medical. On the face of it, then, a bareknuckle scrap and half-length success for Harzand (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) might seem to do little to advance his reputation. Yet you somehow came away thinking the better of the colt.

While not blessed with the same versatility, he has plainly inherited all the hardiness and dependability that were the bedrock of his sire's success. Lest we forget, it is only three months since he broke his maiden. Yet he has already achieved a terrific air of professionalism. He may well be caught out by a quicker horse, at some stage, especially if he ever finds himself in an environment that places a lesser premium on stamina. But you feel you can always trust him to give his all–and that, plainly, will be more than enough for the tastes of most animals he is likely to meet. Having benefited from a wet summer to date, after all, he can expect to remain favoured by conditions when he returns towards the autumn.

Of course, it is a great help that he has been able to share the collective pomp of the people who have raised, trained and ridden him. Their deployment of a pacemaker negated an artful attempt, by the four Ballydoyle riders, to expose his relative lack of flair. Even during the brief interval before his pacemaker could recover from a slow break, Harzand could be seen racing too freely. Immediately you doubted whether he would prove able to regroup and quicken in a sprint finish. As it was, his jockey was able to play his hand on his own terms, perfectly positioned to strike for home early and so require his biggest danger to pull off his gloves and commit. Which brings us, with no apologies, to a cherished recurring theme…

Keeping Faith in Idaho…

Harzand has now met Idaho (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in three consecutive races, and beaten him every time. But there is no mistaking the respect his connections retain for a horse they know, better than most, to represent a good deal more than a mere yardstick for their champion.

Having seen how Harzand was only able to reel in Idaho after he tired in heavy going on his reappearance, Pat Smullen and Dermot Weld did not forget the way the Ballydoyle colt had initially burst clear in the straight. Smullen duly chose Idaho as the rival to track in a big field at Epsom, and after following up on Saturday revealed that he had been anxious to “serve it up” to his old rival as the best way of drawing his sting.

As at Epsom, Idaho was moving with considerably more dash than Harzand two furlongs out. It would be churlish to propose that Idaho does not quite get the Derby trip, having drawn nearly four lengths clear of the third, but it is worth reiterating the suspicion that he may prove better still when dropped to ten furlongs; and that the fast ground adored by his brother, Highland Reel (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), could also assist a wider recognition that this serial bridesmaid is a top-class three-year-old in his own right.

As things stand, bookmakers have somehow got it into their heads that he should be favourite for the St Leger. Harzand's owner, with his professed regard for such neglected assets as constitution and endurance, would do the breed a priceless service if he were to permit the dual Derby winner to be recognised as a far more obvious candidate for that venerable race.

As for Idaho, with that tall and elegant frame to fill as the year goes on, it must be hoped that his connections resist any haste in seeking the change of luck he so deserves. At the risk of boring them into a different agenda, they are again implored to ink in the Breeders' Cup Turf–the sharpest test at the trip available at the elite level–right at the top of it.

Business as Usual for Minding…

Harzand's sire was honoured on the final day of the meeting by the Sea The Stars Pretty Polly S, albeit it was the stallion's half-brother who provided the most predictable of winners. The only conceivable danger to Minding (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) was any dip of the needle on her fuel gauge, contesting her third G1 race in a barely a month. In the event, she again showed the mechanical quality of her brilliance, as docile as she is destructive, the only one able to cut down the outsider of the five runners after Bocca Baciata (Ire) (Big Bad Bob {Ire}) had slipped clear under a very enterprising ride by Colm O'Donoghue.

With her marvellous temperament –her “mind”, in fact– Minding just keeps calm and carries on. Clearly she warrants a crack at the colts at some stage but her owners have their own to consider. It sounds as though she is likely to stay in training, so nobody could complain if in the meantime she were to farm such tailor-made races as the Qatar Nassau S or the Filly & Mare Turf at the Breeders' Cup.

Congratulations, incidentally, to Jessica Harrington for spotting the opportunity to eke out some precious G1 black type for the exposed runner-up. This will by no means be her last reward for recognising that O'Donoghue has far more talent than others perceived even in the occasional masterpieces decorating his service as a “squad” rider at Ballydoyle.

But Not For Britain…

At the end of a week like this, even our notoriously blinkered sport must indulge a footnote on the EU plebiscite–which appears to have divided the racing community no less than the rest of Britain. On the face of it, the demographics of the British racecourse would seem to have an unmistakably “Brexit” complexion, each typically viewed as ageing and lacking in ethnic diversity. On the other hand, professional horsemen belie the Turf's reputation for parochialism in knowing the value of unfettered international trade, not least in bloodstock, and movement of labour, in the staffing of stables.

So far as the racing authorities are concerned, their present political priority–the replacement of the Levy system, which was sought by next April–seems doomed to indefinite neglect as both the main parties play out their own versions of the national schism. But that, of course, is just one microcosm of the disorientation abruptly unleashed on all walks of life. Populist movements, such as Brexit, accuse the political Establishment of complacency; but that is exactly the same charge that can be levelled at voters in so many western democracies, apparently determined to play with matches.

Whatever your view, there is no point shutting the stable door now. The horse has bolted. At the end of a debate aptly condensed by the sinister complaint that “people in this country have had enough of experts”, we can only hope that responsible and well trained outriders can corral the loose horse before it causes too much damage. And, even in the insular racing parish, perhaps everyone will learn a greater vigilance in future.