Graham Cunningham with his take on a Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas which has set-up a mouthwatering Royal Ascot re-match.<\/p>\n
Young maestro John steals the show as Gstaad forges to Irish Guineas glory<\/p>\n
The Race Is On.<\/p>\n
The Stage Is Set.<\/p>\n
And The Maestro Is Ready.<\/p>\n
Three big promotional hoardings on the drive leading up to the Curragh set the stage perfectly for the man, sorry boy, of the hour.<\/p>\n
And little John Magnier \u2013 son of MV and grandson of the man who helped make Coolmore the world\u2019s most influential racing and breeding operation \u2013 steals the show after GSTAAD\u2019s dominant success in the Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas.<\/p>\n
Young John is just one day on from his First Communion and RTE\u2019s intrepid reporter Brian Gleeson \u2013 who still has his communion money according to my Irish moles \u2013 bends low for the inside scoop.<\/p>\n
And John, serious as a deacon and sporting a splendid rosette and suit that gives him the look of a nine-year-old politician waiting nervously on election night, delivers in style by saying \u201cit\u2019s not going to happen again, this day isn\u2019t happening again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maybe it isn\u2019t, but Gstaad is all business once Ryan Moore gets him fully motivated, forging three lengths clear of old rival Distant Storm and setting up a rematch with his Newmarket conqueror Bow Echo in the St James\u2019s Palace Stakes next month.<\/p>\n
Bookmakers make Bow Echo even money to confirm Newmarket form in Royal Ascot\u2019s Tuesday showpiece, with Gstaad at 5\/2 and French Guineas winner Rayif at 8\/1 for the battle of three Classic winners.<\/p>\n
Those prices look hard to argue with and Bow Echo plainly leads the three-year-old miling division at this stage, but picture the scene in just over three weeks\u2019 time.<\/p>\n
A smallish field heads to post and Puerto Rico, a dual G1 winner himself, is on deck to ensure a pace that is even yet not so strong as to set things up for a late swooper.<\/p>\n
Gstaad hovers on his stablemate\u2019s shoulder from the off, perhaps even sneaking up a welcome gap his inner off the home turn, and then it\u2019s a case of \u2018may the best man win.\u2019<\/p>\n
Curragh hero Field Of Gold reversed Newmarket form with Ruling Court in last year\u2019s SJP, while Rosallion took his revenge on Notable Speech at Ascot in 2024 having played second fiddle to him on the first Saturday in May.<\/p>\n
Now that\u2019s a dangerously small sample, of course, but Moore hit the Gstaad nail on the head by saying \u201cwe have our work cut out but the only thing is you\u2019d hope is that he\u2019s progressing.\u201d<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve been here so often with Aidan O\u2019Brien horses who draw strength from repeated visits to the G1 furnace. <\/p>\n
Gstaad is thriving physically and Aidan reports that Ryan feels a return to the scene of his commanding Coventry Stakes success is an added plus.<\/p>\n
So it might be best to clear your diaries for a right royal battle on June 16th.<\/p>\n
The bold John says this day isn\u2019t happening again, but maybe it is. <\/p>\n
And if Gstaad gets first run as his leadout guy starts to falter in that unforgiving Ascot straight, then maybe it will be even better than Communion Friday and Irish Guineas Saturday all rolled into one.<\/p>\n
Purview stamps his authority for an old master<\/p>\n
Plans to make this week\u2019s File a hybrid piece combining Curragh highlights with best of the UK action were scuppered by events at Haydock and, for all that force majeure may have been at play, the Bush League feel to some key elements of British racing is getting increasingly hard to ignore.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, the Curragh supporting card compensated in style with performances from a handful of horses with the potential to make a splash in good company this season.<\/p>\n
Rugged scrapper CAUSEWAY<\/a> isn\u2019t the best colt to ever win the Gallinule Stakes \u2013 Alleged and the mighty Ardross are 10-11 each of two in that heat- but he refused to be denied as Zia Zabel came to call and Aidan has now won this G3 contest twenty, yes twenty, times in the last 30 years.<\/p>\n The globetrotting COMANCHE BRAVE<\/a> dominated smart rivals in the G2 Greenlands Stakes, punching a ticket for the QEII Jubilee Stakes and making this reporter think \u2018what manner of beast is this KA YING RISING?\u2019 given the way the world\u2019s best sprinter treated Donnacha\u2019s doughty colt in last month\u2019s Chairman\u2019s Sprint Prize at sha Tin.<\/p>\n Comanche Brave and Causeway were two of four winners on the card sired by Wootton Bassett, providing another poignant reminder of what a loss that stallion is to Coolmore and breeding in general, but the award for Best Supporting Actor on Irish Guineas Day goes to a bloke who started training over twenty years before Aidan came along.<\/p>\n Dermot Weld doesn\u2019t have a runner when Aidan comes back to the home of Irish racing to saddle G1 aces like Minnie Hauk, True Love and Precise on Sunday.<\/p>\n The 77-year-old master of Rosewell House doesn\u2019t have the depth of talent he once had – and he\u2019s another who might still have his Communion money – but PURVIEW sauntered clear of a useful field in the Orby Stakes and this lightly raced Kingman colt might just be the one to light up the autumn of a Hall of Fame training career.<\/p>\n More from Sporting LifeSafer gambling<\/p>\n We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.<\/p>\n If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline \/ GamCare<\/a> on 0808 8020 133.<\/p>\n Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org<\/a> and gamblingtherapy.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Graham Cunningham with his take on a Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas which has set-up a mouthwatering Royal Ascot…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-464209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}