Snow arrived in June

Jocelyn de Moubray reviews the early Classics and while he rates Snowfall as a brilliant winner of the Oaks and St Mark’s Basilica the best colt in Europe, for now, he is reserving judgement on the quality of Adayar’s Derby win mainly due to the dearth of British middle-distance form

IRISH-TRAINED HORSES have dominated Europe’s major Classic races in 2021. Of the nine run in England, Ireland and France, at the time of writing, seven have been won by Irish-trained horses, and five of these by Aidan O’Brien.

The official handicappers may not yet agree, but Coolmore’s St Mark’s Basilica has established himself as the leader of the Classic generation.

The son of Siyouni has won three Group 1s on his three latest starts following up his victory in the Dewhurst last autumn by completing the French Classic double of the Poule d’Essai des Poulains and the Prix du Jockey-Club and becoming the fourth horse to do the spring double after Shamardal, Lope De Vega and Brametot.

At Chantilly, St Mark Basilica, the best two-year-old in Britain and Ireland, defeated Sealiway, France’s champion two-year-old, with the improving and very promising Millebosc and Saiydabad following them home in a result which fits easily into a pattern established by the best Classic races.

Siyouni, who stands at the Aga Khan Studs at Bonneval in Normandy, has become the clear leader among the Classic sires of the younger generation.

St Mark’s Basilica is his fifth Classic winner from only seven crops of three-yearolds to race, the first four of which were conceived at a €7,000 covering fee.

The colts who chased home St Mark’s Basilica in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains were not those the market had predicted, but the winner more than proved his quality when completing his Classic double at Chantilly.

The official handicappers may not yet agree, but Coolmore’s St Mark’s Basilica has established himself as the leader of the Classic generation

If the hierarchy among Europe’s colts is yet to be fully established, anyone who has been paying attention would agree that Coolmore’s Snowfall is the best filly of her generation.

If her win in the Muisdora Stakes was difficult to judge at the time, Snowfall’s brilliant 16l victory in the Oaks at Epsom made it clear that the O’Brien-trained daughter of Deep Impact is a champion and in all likelihood a great champion – Snowfall’s final sectional time splits as she raced clear of the field were remarkable.

Equally surprising is Deep Impact’s success in Europe as Snowfall is the Shadai stallion’s fourth European Classic winner from fewer than 40 three-year-old runners in Europe.

Juddmonte’s Frankel sired his third Classic winner when Ayadar won the Derby, from his first five crops to race.

The Derby was an exception among this year’s Classic races for colts, and in reality its result presents a puzzle.

The other colts’ Classics featured some of the leading two-year-olds of 2020 as the juvenile Group winners Poetic Flare, Master Of The Seas and Lucky Vega had finished in a line in the 2,000 Guineas, while the two-year-old Group 1 winner Mac Swinney defeated Poetic Flare and another Group 1

After a pre-Epsom week of old-fashioned jockey swapping, Adam Kirby, who got back on Adayar having lost his intended ride on John Leeper to Frankie Dettori, gave the son of Frankel a brilliant ride to win the Epsom Derby

If the hierarchy among Europe’s colts is yet to be fully established anyone who has been paying attention would agree that Coolmore’s Snowfall is the best filly of her generation. If her win in the Muisdora Stakes was difficult to judge at the time, her brilliant 16l victory in the Oaks at Epsom made it clear that the O’Brien-trained daughter of Deep Impact is a champion and in all likelihood a great champion – her final sectional time splits as she raced clear of the field were remarkable.

Equally surprising is Deep Impact’s success in Europe as Snowfall is the Shadai stallion’s fourth European Classic winner from less than 40 three-year-old runners in Europe.

The Derby was an exception among this year’s Classic races for colts, and in reality its result presents a puzzle.

The other colts’ Classics featured some of the leading two-year-olds of 2020 as the juvenile Group winners Poetic Flare, Master of the Seas and Lucky Vega finished in a in line in the 2.000 Guineas, while the two-year-old Group 1 winner Mac Swiney defeated Poetic Flare and another Group 1 winner and another group 1 winner Van Gogh in the Irish 2,000 Guineas.

Godolphin’s Adayar won the Derby very impressively giving his breeder and trainer Charlie Appleby their second Derby in the last four years.

The son of Frankel was travelling almost the best of all of the runners from the start.

When Adam Kirby asked him to quicken past the early leader Gear Up at the beginning of the straight the race was over as a contest, within a 100yds or so the pair were clear of their rivals.

THE TWICE-RACED maiden Mojo Star came through to take second, four and a half lengths behind Adayar, with Godolphin’s Hurricane Lane finishing third a further three and a quarter lengths behind.

None of the other runners ever looked like mounting a challenge and Bolshoi Ballet, the short-priced favourite and the only O’Brientrained contender, was one the first beaten.

Some commentators saw this as a brilliant performance from a future middle-distance star, an assessment the official handicappers appear to share.

However, neither the winner nor the second were expected to perform to this level beforehand; both were available to be backed at 50-1 on the morning of the race.

No handicap or rating system is of much interest if it is not predictive as well as explanatory and a high-rating for Adayar has to be speculative at this stage of his career.

Snowfall’s brilliant 16l victory in the Oaks at Epsom made it clear that the O’Brien-trained daughter of Deep Impact is a champion and in all likelihood a great champion

The problem with the Derby in England, as well, of course, with the Irish Derby, is that so very few of those who breed, sell, train and race thoroughbreds are in reality trying to win the race.

In North America, even if there are many fewer middle-distance races now than was the case 20 or 30 years ago, all of those spending the money still dream of finding a two-turn horse.

A delighted Dettori winning the Oaks on Snowfall. The grand-daughter of Red Evie was Deep Impact’s third European Classic winner after Saxon Warrior and Beauty Parlour

Those US-based sires, sales, breeders and trainers who produce top-class two-turn horses, capable of running over further than a mile on Dirt, are rewarded not by just one of two big prizes and clients, but by a sustained demand for their horses.

In Britain and Ireland this is simply not the case.

As UK and Irish breeders and the commercial market is ever more focused on speed and precocity it is hardly surprising that middle-distance races are less competitive.

There are simply fewer and fewer horses in Britain and Ireland capable of competing over 1m2f and further before the beginning of June as three-year-olds.

It is not the ambition of British and Irish breeders, nor the aim of most trainers... and it shows.

Throughout the spring in England any maiden or allowance race over 1m2f or further attracts a small and more often than not uncompetitive field.

The depth of competition is not there which means that the trial races are rarely a test and horses arrive at Epsom lacking in experience, and in many cases untested.

In the circumstances it is hardly surprising that recent years have seen plenty of longpriced winners, as well as finishes with wide margins as it is the nature of Epsom’s track to magnify the differences in ability other courses can hide or camouflage.

Classic races are Classic races because they are the races that, supposedly, breeders, owners, trainers and jockeys want to win, and the winners of these races are then logically selected to produce future generations.

The moment the desire to win these races is no longer there, the rest of the equation fails to add up, and the races themselves will sooner or later lose their appeal and interest as a spectacle.

Adayar certainly has the type of pedigree you could expect from a high-rated Derby winner.

It has been obvious for a few years now that Frankel is not only a top-class sire, but also a sire of middle-distance horses. In this respect Frankel’s record is very close to his sire’s as currently around 64 per cent of his progeny’s three-year-old wins have come over 1m2f or further, against 68 per cent for Galileo.

There are simply fewer and fewer horses in Britain and Ireland capable of competing over 1m2f and further before the beginning of June as three-year-olds

ADAYAR’S DAM ANNA SALAI was a high-class daughter of Dubawi from the famous middle-distance family Sheikh Mohammed has created since, towards the beginning of his involvement in racing, buying Alydar’s fifth dam Anna Paola from Gestüt Röttgen.

The 1,000 Guineas winner Billesdon Brook was the most recent Classic winner from the family.

Anna Salai was trained initially by André Fabre and after being narrowly beaten by the Grade 1 winner Zagora on her debut in Deauville at two, she went on to win the Group 3 Prix de la Grotte over a mile impressively before being transferred to Godolphin’s trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni.

After finishing second in the Irish 1,000 Guineas on her first start for her new trainer Anna Salai lost her form completely.

She comes from the first crop of Dubawi and Adayar is her third foal and first winner.

St Mark Basilica’s dam Cabaret was a fast and precocious daughter of Galileo whose best performance came over 7f at two in July when winning a Group 3 race.

St Mark’s Basilica: a 1,300,000gns yearling sold by Norelands Stud. His two-year-old full-brother was a vendor buy-back last autumn, he has been named Paris Lights and is in training with Jessica Harrington. Cabaret did not have a foal in 2020, but produced a Kingman colt this January

By the time she was sent to Siyouni to be covered at a €45,000 fee in 2017 she was looking a little exposed as none of her first three foals had come close to competing in stakes company.

Her fourth foal was a non-winner, but everything changed when her next foal, the Invincible Spirit colt Magna Grecia, won the Group 1 Vertem Futurity at two and the 2,000 Guineas the following year.

As a result John Magnier had to go to 1,300,000gns to buy St Mark’s Basilica as a yearling when he was presented by Norelands Stud at the Tattersalls October 1 sale.

St Mark’s Basilica was the highest-rated colt in Britain and Ireland in 2020 after defeating his stable companion Wembley to win the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes on very soft ground.

He had been due to contest the Prix Jean Luc Lagardère at the Arc weekend, but was one of those who had to withdrawn following a feed contamination.

AT THREE, ST MARK’S BASILICA’S only two runs to date have been in the French Classic races, and although he probably got the run of the race on both occasions his two comfortable victories were more than anything else due to his superior tactical speed.

If the lack of stamina is undermining English racing, or at least diminishing the range of its successes, then French racing’s weak point is the lack of pace in so many of its better quality races.

The Poulains was run at a reasonable pace by French standards with the first three furlongs being run in just under 40secs.

St Mark’s Basilica won the race with his acceleration between the two and one furlong pole, a split he ran in 11.14secs, the fastest split any horse in the race achieved and which put him into a comfortable lead.

He ran the final furlong some six per cent faster than the race average to win by a length and three-quarters.

Jim Bolger’s Poetic Flare tried to complete a rare double after his victory in the 2,000 Guineas in Newmarket, but was caught out by the sudden acceleration and lost his place before running on in the final furlong to take sixth.

The Aidan O’Brien-trained colt was the obvious favourite for the 1m2f Prix du Jockey-Club, even though, as is more often than not the case, the race attracted a large competitive field of 19, including three English-trained runners, who travelled over despite the COVID complications.

The 1m2f Jockey-Club has proved to be an excellent race for selecting top stallions, and has often than not a great spectacle.

However, for those aiming to compete in the race, year after year the draw plays a huge part in the result.

Novemba (Gleneagles) bred by Gestűt Brummerhof out of the Dubai Destination mare Nevada,

St Mark’s Basilica was once again an impressive winner making the most of a strongly run race and given a perfect tactical ride by Ioritz Mendizabal to win by a length and three-quarters from Sealiway, a son of Galiway who needs a truly run race to show his true value.

He is a son of Le Havre who finished a fine third on only his fourth career start for his young Deauville-based trainer Stephanie Nigge.

St Mark’s Basilica was settled just behind the early leaders and was able to use his speed to take a decisive lead between the two and one furlong mark, a split he covered faster than his rivals in 11.77secs.

The son of Siyouni covered the last 400m in 24.2secs, the same as the race average, which shows that the race was run at a decent pace although Chantilly is a testing track where the final split is usually not the fastest of any race.

However, in a big field over this course there will also be bad luck stories and the first three had the advantage of being drawn two, four and one respectively.

The runners who had the worst of the draw, horses such as Cheshire Academy, Derab and Makaloun, who came out of stalls 19, 14 and 18, covered at least five metres more than the first three and lost their winning chance long before the final stages of the race.

Rouget had earlier maintained his exceptional record in the French Classic races when taking the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches with Coeursamba

The fourth horse Saiydabad, a son of Blame trained by Jean Claude Rouget for the Aga Khan, didn’t have to cover extra ground as he came with a late run through the field, but his draw in 11 meant that he was never going to be able to present a real challenge.

Rouget cannot have enjoyed anything about the Jockey-Club from the moment his three runners Saiydabad, Makaloun and Cheshire Academy were given the stalls 11, 18 and 19.

However, Rouget had earlier maintained his exceptional record in the French Classic races when taking the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches with Coeursamba, a daughter of The Wow Signal who had been purchased by Adullah Fahad Ah Al-Attiyah at the Arqana Arc Sale in 2020.

COEURSAMBA had run with credit in the best two-yearold races for fillies, but had appeared to be a few pounds behind the best of her generation when fifth in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac and third in two Group 3s.

Third again on her seasonal reappearance behind the subsequent Group 2 winner Tahlie, Coeursamba stepped forward on the day which mattered and showed plenty of speed to beat the 1,000 Guineas winner Mother Earth.

The form of the race looks sound as the third as well as Kennella and See The Rose repeated their form when placed behind Tahlie in the Group 2 Prix Sandringham at Chantilly.

If there is little between Coeursamba, Mother Earth and Tahlie, a daughter of Rio De La Plata trained by Pascal Bary, Novemba, the 7l winner of the German 1,000 Guineas for Gestüt Brummerhof’s trainer Peter Schiergen and jockey Sibylle Vogt, could be the best of her generation over a mile.

In a similar way to Coeursamba the daughter of Gleneagles had competed with credit in the good two-year-old races in Germany without looking capable of a performance like this.

On good ground in Dusseldorf, Vogt took Novemba straight into the lead and set a strong pace, so strong that most of her rivals were beaten before the field reached the straight at which point she quickened right away from them again.

The Godolphin-owned filly Sky Angel was second and she had shown form in good races in France, although not races run at this sort of early pace, suggesting this was a high-class performance and Novemba has an official rating of 116.