Industry Leaders’ Replies Corner

The autumn campaign gathers pace with a very busy week approaching - we have the four day St Leger Festival at Doncaster starting on Thursday and Irish Champions Weekend on the horizon. The opening day entries at Doncaster are through and the fillies and mares take centre stage on Ladies’ Day at the South Yorkshire venue where the ground is currently Good to Soft, Soft in places. Two Group 2 races on the opening afternoon starting with the Park Hill for the stayers over 2850m, the distance of the Leger. Unlike the classic, however, it is open to fillies and mares and there is an entry of 16. The Lillie Langtry and Galtres formlines get a workout as you might expect but it looks potentially quite open. The May Hill is for the juvenile fillies and run over the straight mile. 17 entries but presumably because of the big pots in Ireland, no Ballydoyle entry and it looks a weak renewal on paper. Final declarations on Tuesday next week,

23mm of overnight rain at Haydock, far more than expected, has turned the ground Heavy ahead of tomorrow’s Sprint Trophy. AMERICAN AFFAIR has been scratched and the money, not surprisingly, has come from MARVELMAN who is 4s from 11/2 though KIND OF BLUE has been supported from 9/2 to 10/3 with the favourite ALMERAQ uneasy at 3s. Sunday’s final declarations at Longchamp have been confirmed. The ground has upgraded to Soft and may even be Good to Soft by Sunday as France enjoys summer weather while in rural Derbyshire it’s already autumn. The Moulin over the mile has seven runners and sees the return of GSTAAD who was beaten by the now-retired BOW ECHO in the English 2000 Guineas, St James’s Palace and the Sussex but won the Irish 2000 Guineas. You could easily argue absent BOW ECHO, GSTAAD would be the undisputed mile champion. He had OPERA BALLO a length and three quarters back in third, still gets 6 lbs and looks the better suited to slow turf. TEN BOB TONY won the Lockinge but was fourth at Goodwood. We know he runs 1400m on slow ground and 1600m on quick ground but he’s never run the mile on slow turf and I can’t see him getting the better of GSTAAD. The Vermeille over 2400m has 13 runners. Five older fillies and mares take on eight from the classic generation. The highest rated among the latter is SPARAN NUA who ran a blinder when giving King George winner KALPANA a real fright in the Yorkshire Oaks last month. You can argue the winner was idling in front but it was still a very strong performance by the runner up and on a literal interpretation, SPARAN NUA should win this. It doesn’t usually work like that as we know. PINK PANTHERA was a close second to DIAMOND NECKLACE in the Diane but her form seems to have been boosted by quick ground. The other 3–y-o such as BOTAGOZ and LAPOTHEOSE look to have something to find. The older fillies and mares are perhaps more of a threat. SUNLY from the Graffard yard was second to AVENTURE in the Corrida before a fine third to CALANDAGAN in the Grand Prix de Saint Cloud. The form with AVENTURE was boosted by the latter’s win in the Jean Romanet a fortnight ago. SURVIE has won her last two in America but for me has something to prove back on slower European turf but FRIENDLY SOUL could be interesting on her first run at this trip. She won the Opera last year and has mixed it with the likes of DIAMOND NECKLACE and BLUE BOLT in her last two races. Plenty of if’s, buts and maybes and I’m not inclined to get involved. SUNLY would be my each way play but SPARAN NUA could just be too good for these if building on her York run. Three Group 2 races make for a strong undercard - the Aumale for the juvenile fillies is the trial for the Marcel Boussac at the Arc meeting. Eight runners, all winners and four with 100% records. KALIMAAT won for Fabre at Deauville while AMUSINGLY won for Graffard at Compiegne and the form of the former looks stronger but who knows? A race to watch. Seven go in the Niel , the Arc trial for the 3-y-o, and it’s the test for BENVENUTO CELLINI, who was poor in the English Derby under controversial circumstances but won in Ireland and was a decent third in the King George. You can argue a line through KALPANA puts him and likely Vermeille favourite SPARAN NUA quite close. BENVENUTO CELLINI should be too good for these - the interesting opponent is VARANDIR from the Graffard stable who went off favourite for the Grand Prix de Paris but was fourth, not beaten a length, in that bunch finish. I don’t think the quick ground on that occasion helped and this slower ground could bring him close to the Irish Derby winner. Arguably, the best is left to last with the Foy, the trial for the older horses. Just four go to post but a mouthwatering clash between DARYZ and BAY CITY ROLLER. The former won the Arc last year and started with wins in the Ganay and the Aga Khan IV but, not for the first time, a trip to England on quick ground ended in defeat when third in the Prince of Wales at Ascot. BAY CITY ROLLER was the runaway winner of the Coronation Cup at Epsom with the likes of CALANDAGAN and JAN BRUEGHEL trailing in his wake. His defeat by ALMAQAM in the Tattersalls Gold Cup now reads well after the latter’s fine run at York. So, two Group 1 winners over 2400m - I just think a tactical French-style race works better for DARYZ but these two are serious players in the Arc and it will be a fascinating hors d’oeuvre if you will.

I guess part of NZTR's ridiculous plan to close Trentham down as outlined in the Project Stamina Report. Take their Group races off them and give them to other clubs, the Oaks to Ellerslie, the Telegraph to Manawatu RC etc. That's just two, but there are others. It disgusts me that the Patten Committee are complicit in this skulduggery too.