Weekly Wrap May 9 Edition

If a lot of people were in far too much of a hurry to anoint US Army Ranger (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) as a champion in the making, then it is the colt himself who is now paying an undeserved price. Yes, the hype about a mere maiden winner was so premature as to be nearly distasteful. But much the same now applies to the resentment infecting much opinion of the colt's G1 Investec Derby prospects, following his struggle to master his stablemate Port Douglas (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G3 MBNA Chester Vase last Thursday.

Regardless of the various available extenuations, you can nearly guarantee that any horse that moves like that–at any rate one with such antecedents, in pedigree and schooling–will someday end up a bona fide Group 1 performer. Having won his debut in heavy going, his buoyancy over the drying turf of the Roodee was such that you could have strewn eggs in his path and found yourself no further in the preparation of an omelette.

For almost the entire race everything went like clockwork, to the extent that watching the replay you still expect him to pick up and go away in the short straight. As it was, he only scrambled home in a photo. A couple of the others having pulled themselves to a standstill, the Ballydoyle pair ended up miles clear–ultimately giving the race the look of a rather cryptic piece of work back at home.

The indignities then endured by their trainer began with a television inquisition even before he had heard from his jockeys, which he negotiated with his usual courtesy; and continued in the stewards' room with a still more vexing interview, over the riding of the runner-up. The officials were probably concerned simply to demonstrate their vigilance, and had the sense to leave it there. The fact is that the winner was himself ridden with sensible restraint, and the fast-tracking of an inexperienced Derby colt is too delicate a business, and too important, to be sacrificed to that most precious and querulous of creatures, the punter.

Putting this sideshow where it belongs, the fact is that Port Douglas enjoyed the run of the race–always a lavish benefit round those bends–and anyhow represents a perfectly respectable yardstick: already an accomplished and seasoned performer, and eligible for major improvement at this distance. At the same time, however little forgiveness he requires as a result, US Army Ranger left the strong impression that he retains the raw potential to pack a still bigger punch at Epsom.

Somehow Acquires Know-How…

It is not just US Army Ranger who has failed to pass muster with pundits. Though the premier trial has still to be run, the whole Derby is already being dismissed as miserably below standard. Nobody peddles this line more eagerly than proponents of the deeply eccentric notion that Minding (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) should be diverted from the G1 Investec Oaks to take on the colts. This scheme appears to have no traceable provenance beyond the media and bookmakers, who evidently expect the filly's owners to deprive a number of potential stallions in their own colours of a possible Derby success.

Minding will have to prove her stamina even to beat her own sex at Epsom, of course, but her owners now have belt as well as braces following the success of Somehow (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) in her own trial at Chester. Just like her stablemate the next day, she narrowly landed short odds on her first start outside maiden company; and, similarly, found herself rewarded only with disparagement.

But this was the perfect example of why Aidan O'Brien brings callow 3-year-olds to this helter-skelter racecourse. Somehow was on and off the bridle at the rear and looked to be on the wrong leg turning out of the back. But then she switched leads, filled her sails and got a lovely educational passage through the field to take charge late on. The daughter of Alexandrova (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) is bred for the job and, guaranteed to take a big step forward for this experience, looks extremely fairly priced for the Oaks at 20-1.

Another Ballydoyle filly won her trial in workmanlike fashion at Lingfield on Saturday, albeit Ryan Moore felt that Seventh Heaven (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) was not at home over the kind of going and contours she can expect at Epsom. The colts' version, likewise contested by just five runners at a diffident gallop, was won by Humphrey Bogart (Ire) (Tagula {Ire})–a stablemate of Viren's Army (Ire) (Twirling Candy), who had just held out in the Listed Betdaq Dee S. the previous day. These two had filled the frame behind So Mi Dar (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) at Epsom last month, confirming that filly as the most obvious threat to a Ballydoyle monopoly in the Oaks.

Stiffer Test May Suit Godolphin Pair…

The increasingly amorphous Godolphin operation was the big winner in the latest round of trials, two of its many trainers nowadays producing Classic prospects on Sunday in both Dublin and Paris.

The G3 Derrinstown Trial has admittedly lost much of its lustre since the turn of the decade, but Jim Bolger seemed convinced that Moonlight Magic (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}) has authentic Derby calibre after watching him leave behind a discouraging reappearance over the same course last month. Both the going and the form of his stable were dramatically improved this time, and this grandson of the great Urban Sea shapes as though the extra distance of a Derby will draw further improvement.

It was a curious race, all the same, the pacemakers appearing to set a strong gallop yet closely tracked by the eventual winner and eventually holding out for a close fourth and fifth. The two Ballydoyle colts who made the frame from off the pace can perhaps be marked up as a result, especially the raking 'TDN Rising Star' Idaho (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who had so caught the eye on his comeback. He made up much the most ground of the principals to take third and, while not showing the expected zest on this better ground, has the height and range to keep progressing this season–even if connections decide not to ask him to fling his limbs up hill and down dale at Epsom.

Cloth Of Stars (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) is by the half-brother of Moonlight Magic's dam and produced a not dissimilar display for Andre Fabre in the G2 Prix Greffulhe at Saint-Cloud. On the face of it, he rather wore his rivals down, but he pricked his ears once hitting the front and could well thrive for a more sustained test if supplemented for Epsom.

Later on the same card One Foot In Heaven (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Ire}) confirmed himself a rising star over middle distances in the G3 Prix d'Hedouville, no less than you would hope of a son of the top-class Pride (Fr) (Peintre Celebre). But Harlem (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}) once again shaped well, staying on for second after being caught flat-footed. He has very few miles on the clock and gives the impression that he is gradually piecing it all together.

Among the more established older horses, however, the big marker of the week was laid down by 'TDN Rising Star' Found (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G3 Camelot EBF Mooresbridge S. at The Curragh on Monday. Her comeback spin in the mud had been a non-event and she duly looked much more recognisably a Breeders' Cup winner this time.

Two Old Masters and a Young Gun…

A footnote is more than they deserve, but hats off to two trainers, at very different stages of their careers, for ensuring that Ballydoyle will have to be on its mettle even to beat the home team in the first Irish Classics. Awtaad (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}), trained by the 83-year-old Kevin Prendergast, was a comfortable winner of his 2000 Guineas rehearsal at The Curragh on Monday. A most imposing colt, he should be better again over the extra furlong. Among the fillies, meanwhile, Now Or Never (Ire) (Bushranger {Ire}) promised to take her young trainer, Michael O'Callaghan, to new heights when opening right up in the straight in the G3 1000 Guineas trial at Leopardstown on Sunday.

O'Callaghan's new partnership with Kieren Fallon is one of the more intriguing elements of the new season, and it was edifying to see the veteran rider back in the winner's enclosure at Chester during the week. Fallon admits that he was not in a good place last season, and some quixotic cameos in the US seemed more or less to have sealed his disappearance from the European scene. Apart from everything else he has achieved, however, the six-time champion jockey is credited–during his stint at Ballydoyle–with persuading Aidan O'Brien that Chester was the ideal place to educate an Epsom 3-year-old. If he can win a Classic for his new boss, then, perhaps those who have written Fallon off will repent of having done the same to the latest to benefit from that legacy, in Somehow and US Army Ranger.