Cape Blanco

Bar the Bull said:
And was the beating of Zacinto and Delegator in a four runner field really more meritous than the Arlington Million this year?

That horse he beat by 3L or so (name escapes me) is a decent enough yardstick.
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Gio Ponti - he joins an elite list of European turf horses who have beaten Gio.

The more I look at the Ashford list the more I think he'd fit right in over there - correct me if I'm wrong but they don't have any European-blood so to speak, someone posted this list on another forum I'm on:

Dunkirk - Unbridled's Song
Fusaichi Pegasus - Mr. Prospector
Giant's Causeway - Storm Cat
Grand Slam - Gone West
Henrythenavigator - Kingmambo
Lookin At Lucky - Smart Strike
Majestic Warrior - A.P. Indy
Munnings - Speightstown
Scat Daddy - Johannesburg
Tale Of The Cat - Storm Cat
Thunder Gulch - Gulch
Van Nistelrooy - Storm Cat
 
Gareth Flynn said:
Timeform have Cape Blanco at around 123/124 at his best, with a spike to 130 in the Irish Champion, which could probably be explained by an extraordinarily good front-running ride that allowed him to burn off the others including, of course, Rip Van Winkle. Rip was the better horse though, despite his terrible feet.
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The Irish Champion where Aiden said he wouldn't even have declared RVW had he known the rain would change the ground, and Henry said Twice Over wouldn't have beaten the winner on a good day.
The "spike" belonged to Timeform, rather than any signiicant change in Cape Blanco's form.
 
Rip was the only horse that made STS work in the whole year,
thre form of the sussex was really good too
 
reet hard said:
The Irish Champion where Aiden said he wouldn't even have declared RVW had he known the rain would change the ground, and Henry said Twice Over wouldn't have beaten the winner on a good day.
The "spike" belonged to Timeform, rather than any signiicant change in Cape Blanco's form.
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I don't see the relevance of trainer quotes about Rip and Twice Over in the context of how that race was rated.
 
Gareth
They indicate that both trainers consider their horses didn't run to form, thus allowing Cape Blanco an easy lead - and a rating he hasn't been able to replicate in umpteen attempts since.
 
Clearly, they do think he showed sudden improvement, which he has yet to confirm in any race since.
 
And to Ashford he goes...


From TDN -
Multiple Group 1 winner Cape Blanco (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}--Laurel Delight {GB}, by Presidium {GB}) will embark on his breeding career at Ashford Stud in 2012. His stud fee has not yet been announced. After winning the GI Man o'War S. and GI Arlington Million, the chestnut captured the GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Oct. 1, but sustained a knee fracture and was retired. "Galileo is without doubt the hottest sire in the world right now--he sired two European champion 2-year-old colts from his first three crops, and has no less than 10 different Group or Grade 1 winners, including five European Classic winners this year alone," said Dermot Ryan, Ashford's manager. "We've wanted to stand one of his top sons for some time, but we thought we should wait for the right one and, in Cape Blanco, we're confident we've got him." A €330,000 Goffs yearling, the half-brother to MGSW Mr O'Brien (Ire) (Mukaddamah) captured the G2 Futurity S. at two. He added victories in the G1 Irish Derby and G1 Irish Champion S. at three, and also finished second in the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. that summer. Cape Blanco heads to the breeding shed with earnings of $3,853,216.
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Coolmore have owned 8 Irish Derby winners since Galileo. The previous 7 before Treasure Beach stayed in training.
 
They could sell him as well. Being a Derby winner they may not be overkeen to sell him but its not like they are short of middle distance stallions.
 
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