John Gosden, the trainer of last year’s champion juvenile Too Darn Hot, blamed himself for the colt’s poor start to the season on Thursday while also suggesting that the three-year-old is as well as he has been all year ahead of his next start in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot on Tuesday.
Too Darn Hot finished his two-year-old season unbeaten in four races but missed the 2,000 Guineas in early May due to injury and has been beaten in his two outings since, first in the Dante Stakes at York and then, just nine days later, in the Irish 2,000 Guineas.
“He’s been probably the worst-managed horse this year,” Gosden said. “We sent him to the Dante when quite frankly he was 80%. Frankie [Dettori] was trying to settle him further back and ignored the pacemakers and consequently he got there to be second.
“Then, very stupidly because we seemed to be missing all the Classics, we took him over nine days later to Ireland and we had to give him a flu vac [before travelling]. In the rules, he was perfectly eligible to race in England but not in Ireland as they’ve changed the rules, so we gave him a flu vac on the Saturday and ran him on the following Saturday, as he wouldn’t have been allowed into the racecourse stables otherwise.
“He ran very well [to finish second to Phoenix Of Spain] but we were asking the horse to do impossible things. It would have been much better if I’d simply targeted the Irish Guineas with him.”
Phoenix Of Spain, who made all the running to win at The Curragh, is the 7-4 favourite to confirm the form next Tuesday while Too Darn Hot is 7-2 to register his first success of the campaign and another Gosden-trained runner, King Of Comedy, is 6-1.
“Having said all that, he’s coming up to this race in good form,” Gosden said, “and I hope he shows the quality he has as he certainly hasn’t had an opportunity with his more than interrupted preparation this spring.
“Last year went so smoothly that it was nearly ridiculous – maiden, Group Three, Group Two, Group One – but this year has been quite the opposite. But the good news is that we’re only halfway through the season so there’s still a lot to look forward to.”
Runners from outside Europe are now a familiar sight at Royal Ascot, drawn from across the globe to run in the two sprint events – the King’s Stand Stakes and Diamond Jubilee Stakes – in particular, although Australian representation this year is down to just a single runner, Houtzen, in the King’s Stand.
The recent arrival of the $13m Everest in Australia’s sprinting schedule in October may be one reason for the drop-off in their team for the meeting but Toby Edmonds and Houtzen’s owners decided to “come over here and chance our arm” instead.
“It’s going to be a big field and very competitive, but our filly is very, very sharp,” Edmonds said. “Everyone’s been great to us and I must thank Chris Stickels at Ascot for allowing us to get in [for a racecourse gallop last month]. It’s a testing track and that’s why we’re here so early, we don’t have that type of track back home, with the inclines and all the rest of it. We’ll see what we draw on Sunday, but she’s pretty quick so we’ll be happy to take a sit off them and then she’ll be strong late and she’s quite tough to get past.”
Wesley Ward, who has trained 10 Royal Ascot winners from his American base since 2009, expects to have at least half a dozen runners at the meeting including the juveniles Nayibeth, Maven, who is from the first crop of American Pharoah, the 2015 Triple Crown winner, and Anna’s Fast.
His compatriot Joe Orseno, meanwhile, will be making his debut at the Royal meeting when he saddles Imprimis, a live 12-1 chance, in the King’s Stand Stakes with Frankie Dettori booked for the ride.
Thursday’s best bets
Haydock, which raced on Wednesday, was doomed after a further 10mm of rain overnight, while Uttoxeter reported via Twitter that the track has received 100mm of rain in the last 10 days and that there are large areas of standing water on the course.
Friday’s card at Newton Abbott has been called off owing to waterlogging while Saturday’s meeting at Leicester is already under threat with the racecourse reporting on Twitter that, “over the last four days we have had the same amount of rain as the whole of 2018. As a consequence, we are having the course inspected on Friday at 2pm.”
The fixtures at Nottingham and Yarmouth have survived, however, which means that there is at least a full afternoon programme, albeit on heavy ground at both courses and soft going at Newbury.
**Racing Abandoned** 100mm of rain in the last 6 days. Large areas of standing water and forecast a further 10-15mm through today. We will communicate with customers later this morning via social media and email with a clear plan for ticket options. Phones lines open from 9am. pic.twitter.com/UMUfxHQHR0
— Uttoxeter Racecourse (@UttoxeterRaces) June 13, 2019
There are some interesting contests at the latter track, however, and a very promising individual in John Gosden’s Terebellum (3.00), who makes the second start of her career in the Listed Johnnie Lewis Memorial Stakes over 10 furlongs. The first was an impressive success at Goodwood three weeks ago when the beaten horses included a runner-up who has won since and it will be disappointing if Terebellum cannot build on that on the way to Group races.
Infanta Isabella (3.35) has form with cut in the ground and could be the answer to the handicap over the straight mile, while Urban Highway (4.10) is also a fair price later on. Global Melody (3.45) is the pick of the prices at Nottingham while Junior Rip (3.25) should go well at Yarmouth.
Nottingham 1.40 Upstate New York 2.10 Ocean Paradise 2.40 Maid In Manhattan 3.15 Royal Residence 3.45 Global Melody 4.20 Cent Flying 4.55 Perfecimperfection 5.25 Dor’s Law
Newbury 2.00 Gold Souk 2.30 Qamka 3.00 Terebellum 3.35 Infanta Isabella (nap) 4.10 Urban Highway (nb) 4.40 Admirals Bay 5.15 Jumping Jack
Yarmouth 2.20 Lincoln Red 2.50 Summer Romance 3.25 Junior Rip 3.55 Fields Of Fortune 4.30 Catch My Breath 5.05 Approve The Dream 5.40 Evening Attire
Chepstow 1.40 Lady Alavesa 2.10 Robsdelight 2.45 Indian Creek 3.20 Satchville Flyer 3.55 National Glory 4.30 Nette Rousse 5.00 Anif
York 1.50 Olcan 2.20 Ghalib (nb) 2.55 Chattanooga Boy 3.30 Right Action 4.05 Sir Dancealot (nap) 4.40 Society Queen 5.15 Speed Company
Sandown 2.00 Dream Kart 2.35 Visible Charm 3.10 God Has Given 3.45 Herculean 4.20 I Am Magical 4.50 Valence 5.25 Goshen
Newton Abbot ABANDONED
Aintree 5.55 Ormesher 6.25 Must See The Doc 7.00 Lofgren 7.30 Asylo 8.05 Capital Force 8.35 Dragon Houdini 9.05 Smith's Bay
Goodwood 6.05 Cardano 6.35 Diva Kareem 7.10 Mugatoo 7.40 White Chocolate 8.15 Aperitif 8.45 Hereby
