The Derby & Irish Derby 2009

Cantoris said:
A great team effort. I know people put Kinane down every now and again but when we were thinking of running Brave Inca on the flat there was only one jock we had in mind for him, MJK. A superb jock and great to see Oxx get another champion. He is a superb trainer and they are a fab combination.

I think Sea the Stars is a 1m 2f horse having gone so well 2f out and if he truly got the trip you would think he'd have gone on. Even Oxx seems after the race to be happy they got away with the trip. Agree that O'Brien's tactics were wrong. Why was Fame and Glory behind Sea The Stars!!
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Agree with everything you say....Sea The Stars was the best horse today and probably the best horse full stop. But amazed they did not ask more questions of the horse early on....when I saw 5-6 horses pulling early on I thought what the feck are they doing?!
 
Fantastic performance from the winner albeit the race was run to suit. I've taken some 12s on Fame and Glory for the Arc. Given a faster pace and softer ground he'll be very hard to beat.

Gan Amhras didn't seem to act on the track, much the same as Jamie Spencer really.
 
Galileo said:
I did not give GS a chance because I thought he would be setting off at a much faster pace. Really surprised.
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Aidan has always insisted that they use pacemakers to ensure that the best horse wins the race. There can be no doubt that the best horse won that race. Always expected Golden Sword to run a steady race from the front as he did at Chester.

Urban Sea must be regarded as one of the grestest mares of all time now.
 
The way he travelled, I've not been more excited about a horse since Teofilo. The horse has everything.
 
I haven't been as excited about a Flat horse since Nashwan !!!

I think had they gone quicker he would have beaten them even more easily.He was pulling Kinane's arms out they weren't going anywhere near quick enough for him .

He could be anything - the Nijinsky of our times.
 
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I feel quite anti-climactic after that.

A bit like having sex with Myleene Klass only to rate it OK.

I couldn't believe they were going so slowly in the first half and that spoiled, for me, what had seemed the best Derby of modern times beforehand. They played right into STS's hands instead of really putting it to him. I'm flabbergasted.

Fantastic winner for a fantastic trainer.
 
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I'd say Sheikh Mo is as happy as Sea The Stars connections. He now has a Derby winning stallion in Cape Cross and a good one for the breeding industry as this fella looks like a complete out cross from Northern Dancer. Can anyone confirm? This lad could be a very good stallion. All the traits of Gallileo but with more speed.
 
Cantoris said:
I'd say Sheikh Mo is as happy as Sea The Stars connections. He now has a Derby winning stallion in Cape Cross and a good one for the breeding industry as this fella looks like a complete out cross from Northern Dancer. Can anyone confirm? This lad could be a very good stallion. All the traits of Gallileo but with more speed.
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Nope. Cape Cross is from the Northern Dancer line via Green Desert and Danzig.
 
Cantoris said:
I'd say Sheikh Mo is as happy as Sea The Stars connections. He now has a Derby winning stallion in Cape Cross and a good one for the breeding industry as this fella looks like a complete out cross from Northern Dancer. Can anyone confirm? This lad could be a very good stallion. All the traits of Gallileo but with more speed.
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Has it been confirmed he is going to stand in Darleys? I see alot of Irish National Stud (foaled the horse) heads in the parade ring at Newmarket and again today at Epsom.
 
Oxx mentioned York etc and put the Irish Derby in at the end....there will be huge pressure put on him to run at The Curragh assuming the ground is good or better.
 
I'll always have a soft spot for Cape Cross since I punted it antepost at what I thought were incredible odds (14/1?) a few days before it won the big mile at Goodwood.

It might be one of those, like Dansili (?), who gets good winners at any trip, in which case the dosage won't apply to the same extent as with 'prepotent' sires.
 
EC1 I hope you are working on the sectionals!!! Will be interested to see does the times correlate to what the naked eye saw as a pretty slow early few furlongs.

Also when you see the Ballydoyle horses finish in a heap, you can see that Murtagh probably did have a terrible choice to make. Rip Van Winkle ran well for him though.
 
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