Heavy rain hit Doncaster's Town Moor track on Thursday and refused to relent during the following afternoon, so the Saturday feature G1 Vertem Futurity Trophy is certain to be a thorough examination for its protagonists. It will ask a question of Ballydoyle's latest hot favourite for the juvenile endgame, the TDN Rising Star Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) who would have preferred the ground was in the other direction and now has to prove his mental resolve as well as his physical prowess.
While the son of the high-class Rhododendron (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) got away with soft as he idled when in front too far out in the G2 Champions Juvenile S. at Leopardstown Sept. 10, this could be a different proposition with Ryan Moore having to judge when to unleash him on a tacky, holding surface. Nevertheless, Aidan O'Brien's number one for this race is always the first to look at, with six winning favourites from his last seven saddled and one more would see him usurp the late Sir Henry Cecil with whom he is currently tied on 10.
Speaking on Saturday evening, Aidan O'Brien revealed that he is not a certain runner with the weather turning so drastically on Friday. “He's really fit, but whether we want to bottom him in that ground is up to the lads to decide,” he said. “We're very happy with how he is and it's a case of whether we let him run for experience or whether we don't and keep him for next year. He's done enough this year and it all depends on what that ground is like tomorrow.”
These races are the most exciting for the unknown element they carry and Moore was adding fuel to the fire as he pondered his ride on Auguste Rodin on his betfair blog on Friday. “He is a horse I have rated highly since day one,” he said. I was impressed by him at Leopardstown last time. That may not have been the strongest of Group 2s, but I think he is a Group 1 horse and hopefully he will show that here.”
Unsurprisingly, history tells us that wide-margin maiden winners from Ballydoyle are more often than not class acts and so Auguste Rodin's stablemate Salt Lake City (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) looms large here, with the potential of getting away on the front end as he did at Navan last time Oct. 5. Whether he is the High Chaparral (Ire) or Aristotle (Ire) in this renewal remains to be seen and he will relish the heavy ground.
That could also apply to the impressive Nottingham maiden winner King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}), who took the same race won by Eldar Eldarov (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) in soft ground with some authority 10 days ago. Trainer David Loughnane is hoping to provide Kia Joorabchian's Amo Racing with the Group 1 winner they have been seeking all year. “We don't know what we beat, but Nottingham was nice, both visually and on the clock,” he said. “He's come out of it absolutely fine and he's got an exceptional mind.”
“He's a monster,” Lougnane added. “He's just over 17 hands and he weighs nearly 600 kilos. Everything about him since he first came into the yard has been a bit abnormal and Adam [Kirby] commented he'd never ridden a bigger juvenile, but for such a big horse he's very agile and well-balanced.”
All was relatively quiet where John and Thady Gosden's 2-year-olds were concerned throughout the summer months, but in the last month things have started to hot up and George Strawbridge's TDN Rising Star Epictetus (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) is perfectly poised. After winning that Newmarket maiden July 8, the son of Thistle Bird (GB) (Selkirk) took the Kingston Hill (GB) and Magna Grecia (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) route of the G3 Autumn S. Like the latter, he was a narrow second in that Newmarket staging post a fortnight ago and adds intrigue along with Jeff Smith's impressive Sept. 16 Haynes, Hanson & Clark Conditions S. winner Stormbuster (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}).
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A Case Of Espionage At Saint-Cloud
While fellow Ballydoyle representatives Auguste Rodin and Salt Lake City are sent to Doncaster, TDN Rising Star Espionage (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) takes in the G1 Criterium International for the stable which leads the honour roll with five previous winners. Ioritz Mendizabal is called upon and the yard's go-to French rider who steered St Mark's Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), Joan Of Arc (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Blackbeard (Ire) (No Nay Never) to high-profile success for them has an enviable ride on the son of the G2 Ribblesdale S. winner Even Song (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) who had such poise when breaking his maiden at The Curragh last time Sept. 25.
This is just as tough as the Doncaster feature, with the July 21 G3 Tyros S. scorer and G1 Vincent O'Brien National S. runner-up Proud And Regal (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and White Birch Farm's Sept. 8 G3 Prix des Chenes winner Kubrick (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in attendance along with another TDN Rising Star in Breizh Sky (Fr) (Pedro The Great), while Valmont's Salt Bay (Ger) (Farhh {GB}) adds another later. Impressive on his sole start at Haydock Sept. 24, the Ralph Beckett-trained relative of some useful German middle-distance performers looks tailor-made for this kind of test on deep autumn ground.
An Arresting Presence
As always, abundant stamina really will be a prerequisite in the 10-furlong G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud which occupies a curious space on the 2-year-old Group 1 roster. Few of those who fit the bill in this go on to anything of major note at three, with the 2016 winner Waldgeist (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) the exception of late. There is the trio of Gan Teorainn (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}), Dubai Mile (Ire) (Roaring Lion) and Adelaide River (Ire) (Australia {GB}) bringing European Group 1 and Group 2 form to the race, but if there is one to go forward to the 2023 Classics it could be Juddmonte's Arrest (GB) (Frankel {GB}). One of the operation's successful purchases in 2020 and 2021, the co-topper at the Goffs November Foal Sale gave Friday's winner Sea Of Roses (GB) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) 11 pounds and a 5 1/2-length beating at the unlikely venue of Wales's Ffos Las Sept. 26. He also hails from the Gosdens' academy and Thady said, “It's a big switch up from Ffos Las, but he won't mind the easy ground as he has a nice round action on him. He should appreciate the mile and a quarter and he's a horse we've always liked.”
The Dirty Dozen
All 12 of Saturday's black-type events staged at Doncaster, Newbury, Saint-Cloud and Leopardstown will demand grit and determination as well as class from their winners with the stormy conditions making for gruelling ground everywhere. Key players in the remaining prizes are The King's Reach For The Moon (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), whose 2011 G2 Champagne S. second to Bayside Boy (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) suddenly looks a lot better as he heads to Saint-Cloud's G3 Prix Perth over a mile; KHK Racing's TDN Rising Star Knight (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), who is put to the test in a fascinating and deep renewal of Newbury's seven-furlong G3 Virgin Bet Horris Hill S. by Simon and Ed Crisford following his Sept. 25 Yarmouth maiden success; Ballylinch Stud and Aquis Farm's “forgotten horse” Lone Eagle (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) prepping for a potential Hong Kong date in that track's G3 Virgin Bet St Simon S.; and Ballydoyle's TDN Rising Star Aesop's Fables (Ire) (No Nay Never) who accompanies Auguste Rodin to England and bids to give upwards of five pounds to his peers as a result of his Aug. 20 G2 Futurity S. success in the six-furlong Listed Carlsberg Marstons Doncaster S.
The King's racing manager John Warren said of Reach For The Moon, “We think the ground and trip should be just what we have been looking for. He needs to get back racing again and it's a shame we are nearly at the end of the season as John Gosden is very happy with him.
“We are hopeful of showing his best form, especially as his form with Bayside Boy (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) looks very solid.”
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