Chester’s May meeting concluded in damp and testing conditions here on Friday, and with no sign of any Classic potential in a four-runner race for the Dee Stakes. One of the more historic events among the sequence of Derby trials lost three horses from the original declarations as the ground eased steadily through the meeting, and was eventually won by Not So Sleepy, the only gelding in the field.
The fact that geldings are barred from the Derby meant that Not So Sleepy could have won by the length of the straight without causing so much as a ripple in the ante-post market for the Epsom Classic. As it was, Hugh Morrison’s runner showed an excellent attitude to hold off Disegno with Smuggler’s Cove, the 5-4 favourite to give Aidan O’Brien a clean sweep in the meeting’s main Classic trials, already floundering in the soft ground.
Smuggler’s Cove, a son of Fastnet Rock, did not hold a Derby entry in any case, which told its own tale given the central importance of the race to the breeding operation of the Coolmore Stud syndicate which supplies all but a handful of O’Brien’s runners. Ryan Moore, his jockey, was pushing him along three furlongs from home, and he looked ill at ease on both the track and the going as he dropped tamely out of contention.
The overall standard of this year’s Dee Stakes, once a Group contest but now relegated to Listed status, was highlighted by Morrison’s comment that while Not So Sleepy “has a lot of ability”, there is “no grand plan” for a horse that may need soft ground to show his best form. He has now won two of his three starts and could yet improve again, but equally this may be as high as he ever climbs.
The Derby is such a significant race for Coolmore that it is possible, indeed likely, that O’Brien will have two or three runners in the race in addition to Hans Holbein, who is a 20-1 chance after winning the Vase here on Thursday. The precise make-up of his team, however, and which of them will be ridden by Moore, may not become clear until a few days before the race.
O’Brien is also running out of races in which to test the water, and John F Kennedy, the winter favourite for the Derby before a disappointing run on his seasonal debut, has now been ruled out of Sunday’s Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial at Leopardstown due to soft ground.
He could instead be re-routed to next Thursday’s Dante Stakes at York, a race that has not highlighted a Derby winner since Authorized followed up at Epsom eight years ago, but produced a high-class winner last season in The Grey Gatsby, who went on to win the French Derby and Irish Champion Stakes.
Fifteen horses have been confirmed as possible runners in this year’s renewal, including John Gosden’s Jack Hobbs, the current ante-post favourite for the Derby, who is expected to line up alongside his stable companion Golden Horn.
Elm Park, last year’s Racing Post Trophy winner and a 10-1 chance for the Derby, is also reported to be on course to run on the Knavesmire, while O’Brien has half a dozen horses still engaged in addition to John F Kennedy.
BetFred, the Dante’s sponsor, opened a book on the contest on Friday and make Jack Hobbs, the easy winner of a Sandown handicap late last month, the 2-1 favourite. Elm Park and John F Kennedy are 7-2 chances ahead of Golden Horn at 5-1, with two more runners from the O’Brien contingent, Ol’ Man River and Giovanni Canaletto, at 6-1 and 8-1 respectively.
The defeat of Smuggler’s Cove was a result for the bookmakers and the punters missed out in the Group Three Ormonde Stakes too as Clever Cookie stayed on to beat the 11-10 favourite Tac De Boistron after the grey had hit the front going easily at the top of the straight.
“Last week he was beaten on the gallops by a 64-rated hurdler,” Peter Niven, Clever Cookie’s trainer, said. “If it rains, he will go to the Ascot Gold Cup [and] he might go for the Yorkshire Cup next week. He’s hardly blowing after that.”
Tac De Boistron could also run in the Gold Cup and may be the horse to take from this race, as he moved into contention with impressive ease before a lack of peak fitness on his start since October seemed to tell in the closing stages.
Clever Cookie is top-priced 16-1 for the Ascot Gold Cup, while Tac De Boistron, who also thrives when the ground rides soft, is a 14-1 chance.
“In an ideal world maybe we should have hung on to him a bit longer,” Marco Botti, Tac De Boistron’s trainer, said. “The target is still the Gold Cup if he gets his ground.”
