Monday’s best bets, by Chris Cook
So, in case you missed it, John Gosden has become the first trainer to win both the English and Irish Derbys with different horses in the same year. It’s a great achievement, considering these races have been running alongside each other since 1866 and any Flat trainer would have been delighted to win either.
The old saying was that “If you think you’ve got two Derby horses, you don’t have any”. A true Derby contender would be outstanding in any stable, the reasoning went. If your two best horses were at a roughly similar level, what were the chances that they were both better than everyone else’s?
But that is the position in which Gosden finds himself. He won the Derby with Golden Horn, then decided to save that horse for the Eclipse while sending the one he beat at Epsom, Jack Hobbs, over to The Curragh to land the Irish Classic. It is the sort of thing you could imagine Henry Cecil doing back in the 80s, when he dominated the sport, but in fact this is the very first time.
It is not something Aidan O’Brien is likely to do, despite the strength in depth at his yards in some years. He and his Coolmore employers are committed to supporting the Irish Derby and, if they happen to have won the English race, that has invariably meant running the Epsom winner at The Curragh.
All five of his Epsom Derby winners made an attempt on the double and it is greatly to O’Brien’s credit that four of them managed it. But of course, if you’re running the Epsom winner in the Irish Derby and you’re in the business of making valuable stallions, you’re probably not going to make a concerted effort to beat it with one of your other horses.
But I should think any English trainer, having won at Epsom, would be only too delighted to send something else from the yard over to Ireland to win there. Unfortunately, it is hard enough to win either race, never mind both.
I’m told that the Irish Derby was not so classy an event until it was sponsored by the Irish Hospitals Sweepstake in 1962, boosting the prize money. To that point, it was supposedly won by a few English-trained horses that would not be regarded as first-raters.
But even in that era, no trainer did what Gosden has now managed. It shows the depth of talent he has in his Newmarket yard just now, as well as his skill in nurturing it.
Today’s nap is Racing Knight (4.30), who is 4-1 for a 12-furlong three-year-old handicap at Pontefract. By Sir Percy out of a Peintre Celebre mare, he got his handicap mark by running in six-furlong maidens and unsurprisingly found plenty of improvement when stepped up to 10 furlongs at Leicester last month, making up huge amounts of ground late on to be beaten a neck. He will know more here.
At Musselburgh tonight, Cara’s Request (8.45) is interesting at 7-1, returning to the course and distance over which he has won four times, including his last three successes. He put up a sound effort in a Catterick claimer last time and has conditions to suit from a fair rating.
Wolverhampton’s opener may fall to Samsamsam (2.15), a Robert Cowell three-year-old who steps up to six furlongs after finishing to good effect over five last time. He’s 4-1.
Tipping competition - a new week
Congratulations to diegoisgod, who won last week’s competition on a final score of +20.50, despite a winnerless Friday.
This week’s prize is a pair of Premier enclosure tickets to July Cup day at Newmarket a week on Saturday, 11 July, day three of Newmarket’s Moet & Chandon July Festival. Apparently, there is also “ plenty of fun for all ages in the family enclosure including swingboats, inflatables, garden games and a face painter”, to say nothing of live music and dancing after the last. If you don’t win, you can buy tickets here
To kick things off, we’d like your selections, please, for these races: 4.00 Pontefract, 7.30 Windsor, 8.45 Musselburgh.
As ever, our champion will be the tipster who returns the best profit to notional level stakes of £1 at starting price on our nominated races, of which there will be three each day up until Friday. Non-runners count as losers.
In the event of a tie at the end of the week, the winner will be the tipster who, from among those tied on the highest score, posted their tips earliest on the final day.
For terms and conditions click here.
Good luck!
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