Rip Van Winkle wins Juddmonte International Stakes
If he keeps improving like this, Aidan O’Brien may have another champion on his hands.
Rip Van Winkle had looked to be a light of former days when he could finish only sixth to Goldikova in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot and then still seemed to have been put in his place by Canford Cliffs when he was runner-up in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood three weeks ago.
However, neither O’Brien nor stable jockey Johnny Murtagh lost faith and they were justified – but only just. Two furlongs out in the Juddmonte International Stakes Rip Van Winkle looked no better than the minor places. The Khalid Abdullah-owned pair, Byword and Twice Over, had come clear of the field and Twice Over was just beginning to assert in a private battle with less than a furlong to run. Which was all that the O’Brien horse needed.
Murtagh reckons it takes a little time for Rip Van Winkle to hit full stride but when he does it is pretty telling. He cut down the pair in the last hundred yards to beat Twice Over by a half-length, with Byword three-quarters of a length back in third.
Rip Van Winkle was the colt who O’Brien and Murtagh thought would light up last year’s Flat season, right up to the point that he started bumping into Sea The Stars. But, after coming off worst in the 2000 Guineas, Derby and Eclipse Stakes, Rip Van Winkle proved himself in both the Sussex and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, even if the Breeders’ Cup Classic was just a race too far. But two defeats this season has given the Doubting Thomas Society all the ammunition they needed and halfway down the home straight they looked to be right.
Stimulation, the early pacesetter, was about to fall to the Abdullah pincer movement while d**k Turpin was finding that his hard pulling early in the contest had robbed him of the stamina resources to see out the extended 10 furlongs, despite a race that was not run at a fast pace. Rip Van Winkle, who was possibly caught flat-footed when Byword and Twice Over took up the running, was still about two lengths down with 200 yards in which make up the deficit and he did so in some style. “He’s in a really good place now,” O’Brien said “and he’s really on an upward curve.
“The plan was just to get him switched off, relax and let it happen,” he said, adding the almost obligatory “he’s a very exciting horse.”
Murtagh looked suitably excited by it all. Earlier the jockey had donned his running gear for yet another slog around a racecourse as part of the purgatorial regime that keeps his weight to the artificially low demands of his profession; but moments like this are what he lives for. “I love this horse. I rode him in the Derby, I rode him in the Guineas, he didn’t show his true worth but I think when he won his two Group Ones he showed the real champion he was.
“Aidan had a plan with him this year and he was going to be slower, and there’s a lot of big races coming up at the end of the year for this fella and we want to have him fresh and well. I think he’ll improve again for today. He was a little bit rusty today.”
Any rust had to be shaken off once Murtagh shook the reins, and then raised the whip, at Rip Van Winkle but the jockey pointed out this is not a horse with instant acceleration. “When they kick, he’s not accelerating but, when he gets up into the top gear, he hit the line really well today.”
Waiter’s Dream became the latest colt to enter the reckoning for next season’s Classics when he hit the line first in the Group Three sportingbet.com Acomb Stakes.
Having drifted to the stands’ rail in the penultimate furlong, Waiter’s Dream stretched clear in the final one to win by four-and-a-half lengths from Silvertrees. The disappointment of the race was the favourite, Lake Ontario.
O’Brien’s two-year-olds had appeared to have turned the corner and this colt had won by five lengths at Naas a fortnight ago. However, he was at the rear of the field for much of the race with Murtagh getting very physical from halfway and, although he picked up to finish fourth, he looked a long way from being in the mix for the big autumn prizes.
Kieren Fallon had already been impressed by Brian Meehan’s colt and that view of Waiter’s Dream was only enhanced by this win. “He gave me a proper feel when he won at Newbury last time and he’s worked well since. He gives you the feel of a proper horse,” Fallon said, adding of the move to the rail “it was just a bit of greenness. He hung that way - I let him go – he’s still a big baby, he’s still learning and I think he’s going to go places.”
http://www.senore.com/Rewilding-new-St-Leger-favourite-after-Great-Voltigeur-win-a22113
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