Weekly Wrap With Chris McGrath for July 11

Purely in terms of the demands made on his time and energy, you can see why training is said to be a young man's game. But the recurring dilemmas raised by the mental and physical frailties of the Thoroughbred surely redress the professional balance in favour of his elders. And the fact is that many of those fashionable young thrusters whose patrons favour them with yearlings far more expensive than have ever found their way to Kingston Warren were not even born when Henry Candy, learning the ropes in Chantilly, travelled to Epsom with Sea Bird II (GB) (Dan Cupid) himself. Yet the decline of owner-breeders of the old school has required a man who once trademarked his patient handling of horses in the mould of Time Charter (GB) (Saritamer) and Master Willie (GB) (High Line {GB}) to re-invent himself as a master in the honing of raw speed.

But if the materials are different, be in no doubt that the craft is the same. In converting the base metal of the bloodstock market into sprinting gold, to the extent that he has now won two Group 1 prizes inside three weeks, Candy has been able to apply a judgement seasoned over half a century. And, if his understated bearing nowadays encourages lazy caricatures of a lugubrious old pessimist, then nor has he remotely lost the kernel of ambition that sustained him when the same demeanour, in a rather younger man, was more accurately identified as a courteous aversion to the flaunting of ego.

As such, nobody should underestimate the satisfaction he would find in the decidedly unconservative aspirations available to Limato (Ire) (Tagula {Ire}) following that superb performance at Newmarket on Saturday. There are many catalogue pages Candy can nowadays put a line through as impractical, without even having to look at the horse, but he could yet end up sending this £41,000 gelding to mess up the stallion brochures of Classic winners in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile. His quirks could make for an unnerving journey, but it would surely be worth the punt, given Limato's relish for fast ground and the congenial premium on speed at the trip. And if the locals could be pardoned any misapprehensions about so classically undemonstrative an English gent, then his compatriots should be in no doubt as to the ardour that would embolden such an adventure.

Air Force Blue Could Yet Take Off…

It is hard to imagine Aidan O'Brien can ever have been so pleased with a horse that has finished 12th. Having seemed to be in freefall in both his first two starts of the season, Air Force Blue (War Front) had prompted many to dismiss his return to sprinting in the G1 Darley July Cup as a last, desperate throw of the dice. In the event, the champion juvenile of 2015 offered persuasive hints that he has been written off far too soon. Whether it was the drop back in trip, or simply his liberation from some unknown malaise, he exuded a hunger for competition that had been conspicuously lacking in the spring. Unfortunately, he remained trapped on the bridle throughout, never able to thread any kind of passage as the big field bunched in front of him. But he was able to coast onto the heels of in-form, proven specialists in this grade and, while you can't yet be certain how he would have picked up given the chance, it was certainly heartening to see. Lest we forget, the colt he beat so stylishly in the G1 Dewhurst S. also finished second in the G1 2000 Guineas. Whatever his problem has been, it was not that he had been overrated.

Appleby Consolidates Eclipse Breakthrough…

All last week's comments about Charlie Appleby coming out on top in that throwback Godolphin-Ballydoyle duel for the G1 Coral Eclipse S were tempered by the caveat that one swallow does not a summer make. Just seven days later, however, he reiterated his growing assurance with an identical scenario in the most significant juvenile race of the July Festival at Newmarket.

The kind of money that preceded War Decree (War Front) to the G2 Bet365 Superlative S. permitted no doubt that his debut success at Leopardstown and lovely physique identified one of Ballydoyle's most promising 2-year-olds. Sure enough, he was able to open up a gap of five lengths on the pack. What his backers could not have anticipated is the way Boynton (More Than Ready) responded when headed inside the final furlong. Accustomed, in recent years, to seeing all those maiden winners from Godolphin's private stables failing to bridge the gap to group company, they must have been speechless to see Boynton regroup and stubbornly assert by three-quarters of a length. Auspiciously, Boynton is built to keep developing and, out of a Distorted Humor (Forty Niner) mare, he has the pedigree someday to explore possibilities on the dirt either in his owner's homeland, or in the U.S.

O'Brien also had to settle for second with another youngster by the same sire, sent over for the G2 Arqana July S. on the first day of the meeting. In yielding by just half a length to the G2 Coventry S. runner-up, however, Intelligence Cross (War Front) could scarcely have shaped better, green when asked to close from the rear and palpably learning all the time he did so. The winner, after all, looks an exceptionally proficient juvenile, with his earnest head carriage and apparently bombproof temperament. Of course, Mehmas (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) had previously been put emphatically in his place by Caravaggio (Scat Daddy) at Ascot, so there were additional comforts for their trainer even from the defeat of Intelligence Cross. You just have a hunch that Caravaggio may have to beat Boynton at some stage to seal his status as cream of the crop.

Fond Memories…

Both the fillies O'Brien sent over to Newmarket on Friday plundered big prizes, Ryan Moore redeeming his Royal Ascot embarrassment on Alice Springs (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G1 Tattersalls Falmouth S and proving equally alert to the prevailing tactical bias, in a tailwind over fast ground, on 'TDN Rising Star' Roly Poly (War Front) in the G2 Duchess of Cambridge S.

But this was a week for longer perspectives at Ballydoyle. The poignant circumstances of a former stable jockey's retirement have been amply reprised in the many compassionate tributes paid to Kieren Fallon. And then there was the loss of Alphonus Septimus O'Brien, universally cherished on the Irish Turf as “Phonsie”, the youngest of Vincent's brothers, but intimately involved in his success.

It was Phonsie who fetched Cottage Rake into the yard by driving him several miles along the road in a trap. For the first of that horse's three Gold Cups, it was Phonsie who shipped him to Liverpool surrounded by cattle and draped in a tarpaulin. The following year Vincent upgraded them to a plane, along with Hatton's Grace and Castledermot, who further vindicated this bold innovation by winning the Champion Hurdle and National Hunt Chase respectively. It was also Phonsie who supervised the stable during the notorious suspension that so vexed Vincent, winning a G1 Irish Derby. But he will be remembered above all for the way he and Tom Cooper sieved the initial longlist of Keeneland yearlings for inspection on the great Kentucky farms during the 1980s. To the many friends he made in those heady days, while gratified by the mental acuity that gave full value to his generous span of years, his exit marks the end of an era.