Hugo Palmer, 12 months on from his breakthrough Classic success, will send Architecture and We Are Ninety into action in the Irish Oaks at The Curragh on Saturday evening and the trainer insisted on Friday that punters should not dismiss the claims of We Are Ninety, a 25-1 outsider in the betting.
Architecture, the only horse to get anywhere near Minding in the Oaks at Epsom in early June, is the 6-1 second-favourite for Saturday’s Classic, behind the odds-on favourite Even Song, a stable companion of Minding at Aidan O’Brien’s yard.
Architecture sets a puzzle for backers, however, as she then ran in the Ribblesdale Stakes at Ascot and finished a well-beaten eighth behind Even Song. We Are Ninety, meanwhile, was two places ahead of Architecture at Ascot yet can be backed at four times her price.
Palmer, of course, is simply delighted to have two realistic contenders for this year’s race, a sign that the momentum generated by Covert Love’s victory last season has been maintained ever since. Galileo Gold gave the trainer his first English Classic in the 2,000 Guineas in May and his first Royal Ascot winner in the St James’s Palace Stakes last month. A successful debut for Escobar at Newbury on Friday at odds of 16-1 underlined the wellbeing of his string.
“Architecture was beaten only five lengths at Ascot, which isn’t very far,” Palmer said on Friday. “It’s about four-fifths of a second and it didn’t go right for her. She was drawn wide, she travelled wide the whole way, three or four off the rail, which means she ran further than anybody else.
“I was happy that she was right and I don’t think she did much wrong but, added to that, it was only 13 days after the Oaks and that could have left its mark. Frankie Dettori rode her last week and said she felt every bit as good as she did before Epsom, but she’s going to need to be.
“The betting suggests that either they think she can’t reproduce her Epsom form or that the punters think Even Song would have split Architecture and Minding at Epsom. Who knows the truth? That’s what competitive sport is about and it’s about finding out.”
We Are Ninety was running on turf for only the second time when sixth in the Ribblesdale, having previously taken a Listed race over a mile-and-a-quarter at Newbury in May.
“I think her chance is being underplayed,” Palmer said. “This is all coincidental but like Covert Love she started her season winning at Chelmsford, like Covert Love she’s won a Listed race and like Covert Love she will be ridden by Pat Smullen; and she’s going to jump out of stall eight.
“I’m sure lightning doesn’t completely strike twice but she is a really smart filly. She was ahead of Architecture in the Ribblesdale despite having travelled behind her in the race and then she finished past her in the straight to be beaten only three lengths by the odds-on favourite [for Saturday’s race] and she’s 25-1. We go there, I think, with two realistic chances to try to defend the crown.”
Escobar’s success was “not unexpected”, Palmer said, despite his double-figure price. “He’s a really nice horse and a horse that I’ve loved all along,” the trainer said. “But today looked like quite a smart race and it was definitely just going to be a starting point for him. From that point of view, the fact that the penny dropped as fast as it did is very exciting.”
The win also took Palmer’s stable to within a few hundred pounds of £1m in prize money in Britain this season. His 2015 total of £1,042,000, Palmer’s best in five full seasons with a licence, will be beaten within a week or two and, if Galileo Gold can maintain his Group One-winning form in races like the Sussex Stakes and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, a top-five finish in the trainer’s championship is a very realistic target.
“I wake up and pinch myself every morning,” Palmer said. “It’s hugely exciting and I feel very, very fortunate. What you have to remember in this game is that it’s the horse that wins the race. The successful trainer and the successful jockey are those who make the fewest possible mistakes along the way.”
