Main players clash in Dewhurst Stakes
The race that everyone has been looking forward to is still on. Well, everyone bar most of the other trainers in Britain.
Rather like the denouement to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Frankel, Dream Ahead and Saamidd will meet in a three-way showdown for the Group One Dubai Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket with another trio of runners - Roderic O'Connor, Glor Na Mara, Waiter's Dream – seen very much in the role as extras to play out the crowd scene behind the stars.
That view is backed up by the views of the official handicapper who rates Waiter’s Dream, the winner of the Group Three Acomb Stakes at York in August and then two-and-three-quarter lengths third to Saamidd in the Group Two Champagne Stakes at Doncaster the following month – 19lbs inferior to Dream Ahead.
In fact one of the fascinating aspects of this race is that Dream Ahead (pictured) – already twice a winner at Group One level – is considered at least 5lbs clear of his field on all known form.
The unknown factor is just how much more either Frankel or Saamidd may yet find. Both, like Dream Ahead, come to the Dewhurst with perfect records and there were plenty of observers who were hailing Frankel as something akin to the perfect racehorse after he won the Group Two Royal Lodge Stakes by 10 lengths at Ascot three weeks ago.
His trainer, Henry Cecil, has never been one to be swayed by such public fervour but even he has readily conceded that the colt rates among his best two-year-olds in a career that covers more than 40 years. As Cecil said recently on his website: “Frankel seems in very good order. He is improving all the time and has grown up a lot. He has done everything very easily so far so he is definitely entitled to take his chance.
“It’s going to be a tough race,” Cecil said, adding “but Frankel, as a two-year-old, is potentially as good as I’ve seen for a long time, going back to Wollow. Diesis was good - he won the Middle Park and the Dewhurst - and Wollow won the Champagne and Dewhurst. They were really good horses.
"This horse has shown me a lot and I can’t think over the last few years, two-year-old wise, that I’ve had one as promising.”
David Simcock's Dream Ahead, on the other hand, has already delivered with victories in the Prix Morny and Middle Park and would become the first since Diesis, in 1982, to complete the Middle Park-Dewhurst double.
Perhaps the most visible measure of the quality of this year’s renewal is the decision of Ed Dunlop to scratch his own unbeaten colt, Native Khan, who will now wait for the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster. As the trainer admitted on his website: "I have had a long chat with the owners, and we have decided to opt out of what looks a very strong Dewhurst.
"They say never be afraid of one horse, but it seems that there are three to be wary of in Saturday's race, and, with the weather forecast for Doncaster next week being favourable, we will sit tight and wait for Town Moor. The horse worked very well for Kieren Fallon on Tuesday morning and I am very happy with him, and stepping up to a mile will not be a problem."
Dunlop has also elected to wait for another day with Snow Fairy, his dual Oaks winner, who will not be running in the other Group One race on the Champions day card, the Emirates Airline Champion Stakes, where Twice Over will face 10 others when he defends his crown.
Dunlop had already been considering sending his star filly to Japan for the Grade One Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup, at Kyoto on November 14th, and the need to factor in sufficient time for Snow Fairy to travel there, and then be prepared to run, forced the decision to miss the Champion.
"Snow Fairy is in great shape, but this year's Champion looks a strong renewal and will be very competitive," Dunlop said. "It would not be right going to Japan on the back of a hard race.
"With the bonus that the JRA are offering, we could pick up just short of £1.4million if Snow Fairy happens to win - they also double the prize money if she finishes second or third - and we want her to be at her peak when she arrives out there, so we have decided to give Newmarket a miss."
The loss of Snow Fairy hardly lessens the level of opposition to Twice Over, who will be attempting to win his second Group One of the season after the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park in July.
France have won the Champion twice in the last four years and they are represented by Vision d'Etat and Fuisse while Aidan O’Brien tries to win one of the few major British races to elude him when he saddles Await The Dawn, the nine-length winner of a Group Three race at Leopardstown six weeks ago.
Saeed bin Suroor is another trainer trying to add a surprising omission with Poet's Voice, the winner of the Group One Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot last month, who was supplemented on Monday and is due to tackle 10 furlongs for the first time.
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