Weekly Wrap for May 16

It must be extremely irritating for those still hoping to win the damned thing to hear so many curmudgeons mistaking a wide open G1 Investec Derby for a mediocre one. Often, of course, you only get the kind of stand-out favourite people seem to be craving precisely when his peers are not up to standard. If anything, the fact that so many colts are clustering together on the Epsom road will place an exceptional premium on those assets–speed, stamina, agility–that make the great race such a reliable platform for future stallions.

Certainly a maximum field of 20 would call for an exceptionally adept racehorse–and that raises the one obvious caveat about the overnight sensation, Wings Of Desire (GB) (Pivotal {GB}). Here is a colt who was not given his first half-speed until Mar. 15, and showed corresponding inexperience on his debut at the Craven meeting. True, even the most obtuse observer could hardly fail to register the way he woke up through that race–witness the fact that no other horse has so far found his way into this series, after defeat in a maiden–and John Gosden turned him out just 10 days later to take in three turns round Wolverhampton. But his performance in the G2 Betfred Dante S. was nonetheless a revelation.

It was interesting that Dettori elected not to cut in from his wide draw. This reluctance to risk any bumping and tunnelling suggests that connections' priority was to learn about the colt, rather than to teach him, and the jockey even took a pull in the straight to avoid flummoxing him with the loneliness of a premature lead. Once Dettori did start driving him forward, Wings Of Desire duly drifted away from the whip and there must be a concern that he may lack the streetcraft for a test as unsparing as Epsom so early in his career.

His saving grace is a nearly catatonic temperament, while his brawn is hardly of the hulking, grand piano type that might undo a horse round Epsom. He does not pound the ground: he has a fluid, flowing action ideally tailored to summer going. As such, so long as he takes another forward step in the Derby, connections could do worse than start planning the rest of his campaign around the G1 Breeders' Cup Turf.

Muntazah: One Step Back, Two Steps Forward…

No horse, the winner included, is likely to build on his Dante performance more than Muntazah (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). For it was precisely because his race went so wrong, in so many respects, that he is likely to prove the more battle-hardened of the pair should he proceed to Epsom.

He already had the advantage of the winner, in terms of seasoning, having had four starts last year. But he was a colossal juvenile, and still too weak really to see out his only test outside maidens, when third in the G2 Royal Lodge S. York was his first start since, and he proved extremely fresh through the first half of the race. It was a curious affair in that respect, several others racing freely early despite sectionals that amply entitled the winner to come from so far back. One of these was Midterm (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), who will surely bounce back from a strangely insipid performance, but the only one who managed to get back on the bridle as the race took shape was Muntazah.

Unfortunately, having needed cover to try and settle his mount, Hanagan then found himself short of room as the winner was produced down what had tended to prove quicker ground. Eventually the big horse had to squeeze through a gap hard on the rail and, while staying on well enough for a clear fourth, flattened out a little as all his wasteful exertion told.

Whether such a big animal can cope with Epsom remains to be seen, but if so he may yet give the rookie trainer Owen Burrows an even better chance than the G1 2000 Guineas runner-up, Massaat (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}). Muntazah is out of Rumoush (Rahy), once trained in the same yard, who finished third in the G1 Oaks and second in the 14-furlong G2 Park Hill S. That seam of stamina doubtless traces to the great Bustino mare Height Of Fashion (Fr) (Bustino {GB}), the dam of Nashwan (Blushing Groom {Fr}), Nayef (Gulch) and Unfuwain (Northern Dancer) as well as Rumoush's mother, Sarayir (Mr. Prospector). Presuming he proves less gassy with this run under his belt, Muntazah looks ready for a breakout performance over the extra distance at Epsom.

All That Glitters…

Massaat's stamina for the Derby trip is in some doubt–his dam was very quick–but the door remains ajar for the colt who beat him at Newmarket. Galileo Gold (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) retains his Epsom entry as he takes in the G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas this weekend, and connections may well have spotted the runaway success of Imperial Aviator (GB) (Paco Boy {Ire}) in what had looked an extremely competitive handicap over 10 furlongs at Newbury on Saturday. This colt, likewise, is by Highclere Stud's flourishing stallion out of a Galileo mare and–those “CC” genes notwithstanding–it may yet prove that Galileo Gold can stretch his speed beyond a mile.

Oaks Jockeys Must Hold Their Nerve…

Gosden and Dettori also won the big fillies' trial at York, albeit her trainer and jockey are just about all So Mi Dar (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) has in common with Wings Of Desire–apart, that is, from a top-class British nursery. So Mi Dar was issued with a crossed noseband and two handlers through the preliminaries and certainly produced a high-energy performance in the G3 Tattersalls Musidora S, heavily restrained early before scuttling through from last place to go four lengths clear.

There appears to be nothing sinister about these traits. She doesn't seem like a nervous or fragile filly, but simply to have a sharp, expressive outlook, consistent with a fairly businesslike physique. She has already proven herself round Epsom, but the track would be the last thing you would worry about for her anyway. Nonetheless both she and Minding (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) will need a degree of nursing to get home in the Investec Oaks, on account of demeanour and pedigree respectively, and it will be gripping to see two master jockeys switching off their mounts and daring the other to blink first.

Bravo Signor Bietolini…

Worthy as it was, the success of Belardo (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) in the G1 Al Shaqab Lockinge S. means that the older milers have yet to lay down too intimidating a marker for the Classic generation. And that, you would think, may well influence Coolmore's strategy with The Gurkha (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) after his stunning performance on Sunday.

Leading fancies disappointed in both the Deauville Classics–notably the numerous fillies, such as Qemah (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), who failed to settle–but take nothing away from Dicton (GB) (Lawman {Fr}), who just failed to snatch second in the G1 Poule D'Essai des Poulains. His acceleration through heavy traffic as The Gurkha opened up demands that he now be recognised as an authentic Group 1 colt; and a similar endorsement for the elite calibre of his Italian trainer, Gianluca Bietolini, who claimed him from Freddy Head for just €22,000 last autumn.

Floats Like a Butterfly, Stings Like a Bee…

Sprinters tend to be all-action types and you seldom see one move with the buoyancy of Magical Memory (Ire) (Zebedee {GB}). That, rather than some uncontainable physical gusto, is the root of the way he again travelled in the G2 Duke of York Clipper Logistics S. before seeming to idle once hitting the front. Those light feet qualify him as an especially potent tool on fast ground, so it's edifying that Dettori is already urging Charles Hills to consider a race about which European trainers seem to have become culpably defeatist–the GI Turf Sprint at the Breeders' Cup. Hills would have liked to take Muhaarar (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB} to the GI Breeders' Cup Mile last year, so let's hope he gets some deferred fulfilment from this project.