Highland Reel has secured the luck of the draw ahead of his attempt to provide Aidan O'Brien with a fourth victory in the French 2, 000 Guineas and an impressive success at Longchamp on Sunday could propel the colt to the top of the Epsom Derby betting.
A clutch of traditional Derby trials take place throughout Europe this weekend, including Leopardstown’s Derrinstown Derby Trial tomorrow, although that race has been cut to just five runners, none of which figure prominently in the current Epsom market.
O'Brien's John F Kennedy is a notable absentee from Leopardstown and instead the trainer's immediate focus will be on Lingfield's Listed Trial in which Kilimanjaro flies the Ballydole flag, before Ryan Moore travels to Paris for what looks the main weekend event.
Moore will be on Cape Clear Island in the Group Two Prix Hocquart at Longchamp – with Colm O’Donoghue on the other O’Brien hope Royal Navy Ship in that five-runner contest – before Highland Reel gets his season under way in the Poule D’Essai des Poulains.
Newmarket rout
The colt hasn’t been seen in action since Goodwood last summer but is as low 8/1 for the Derby with Ladbrokes and will attempt to provide the O’Brien-Moore team with a second 2,000 Guineas success of the season after Gleneagles’ Newmarket rout last weekend.
A total of 18 line up for the €550,000 French classic – including another Ballydoyle hope in the O’Donoghue-ridden War Envoy – where the draw invariably is a major factor in big fields. Highland Reel has been put in an ideal stall in seven but one of his biggest dangers, the Greenham winner Muhaarar, was not as fortunate and will start from the wide outside in 18.
“Obviously we could have fared better with the draw but we can’t do anything about it,” said Muhaarar’s trainer Charlie Hills. “I couldn’t be happier with the horse. The ground has dried up since midweek. But he’ll have to be very good to overcome the draw.”
The main home hope appears to be the Andre Fabré-trained Make Believe.
The impact of unseasonably wet weather looks to have had its impact on Leopardstown’s Derby Trial, which doesn’t feature either John F Kennedy, still left in Thursday’s Dante at York, or Zawraq, and which could ultimately wind up getting won by the sole filly in the race, Summaya.
With champion jockey Pat Smullen suspended, apprentice Leigh Roche comes in for some gilt-edged opportunities on Dermot Weld’s weekend starters.
Quandary Stormfly thrives on soft ground and looks to have a favourite’s chance in the 1,000 Guineas Trial but Summaya presents something of a quandary in taking on four colts, including Ballydoyle’s Order Of St George and the surprise Ballysax winner Success Days.
Although she was noticeably weak in the betting on her first start of the season at Cork, the bare facts are that she beat the Chester Vase winner Hans Holbein by six lengths on heavy going. Hans Holbein has clearly improved since, while Summaya subsequently managed only fourth in the Salsabil Stakes. However, Weld’s runners were going through a rare dip in form at that time and his decision to take on the boys with this filly looks significant.
Another proven soft-ground operator is Sruthan, who has ground to make up on the surprise winner Flight Risk from the Curragh but is still favoured on official ratings in the Group Three Amethyst Stakes.
Killarney’s May festival kicks off tomorrow with an intriguing raid by Nicky Henderson’s former two-mile champion chaser Finian’s Rainbow on the €18,000 conditions chase.
Finian’s Rainbow hasn’t run in a year-and-a-half, so in the circumstances the safest punting option looks to be last year’s winner Baily Green.
