The news that Dawn Approach will, after all, be running in the St James’s Palace Stakes has created quite a stir. Those of you with long memories may recall a similar “will he, won’t he” scenario with Jim Bolger’s New Approach ahead of the Derby in 2008. He was suddenly brought back into the equation with some punters having invested at huge prices on Betfair.
The news that the 2000 Guineas winner will line up on Tuesday has certainly helped to raise the excitement ahead of the meeting. Coral quickly announced that they will be treating all bets previously struck as being “without Dawn Approach”. That was very smart thinking and shows how much more “punter friendly” the bookies are these days. It certainly has not always been the case so full credit to them for acting so quickly.
So what are we to make of Dawn Approach after his Derby antics? It appears that the possibility of him attempting to bolt during the race had not even occurred to his connections, such was their confidence in his ability to settle. Kevin Manning certainly wasn’t expecting it and had already decided that he would need to “get after” Dawn Approach quite early in the Guineas to get him into top gear. Was it simply a case of a miler running in a mile and a half race? I have seen plenty of Guineas horses run in the Derby but cannot remember any of them running as freely as that.
Magician was expected to head for Epsom after winning the Dee Stakes at Chester but Aidan O’Brien dropped him back to a mile for the Irish Guineas instead. The decision was rewarded in spectacular fashion and he looks the obvious choice. O’Brien still has three other entries in the race whilst Bolger has Leitir Mor entered as a possible pacemaker. A crawl would not suit either of the market leaders to it seems safe to assume that there will be a decent pace on.
Toronado was thought to be Dawn Approach’s biggest rival at Newmarket and it looked like being a clash between the two with a furlong or so to run. However, Richard Hannon’s colt dropped out very tamely and was treading water at the line. Connections are adamant that he is a lot better than that and he will presumably be tucked in behind the pace.
The French raiders Mutin and Mshawish don’t look up to top standard and Dundonnell has had his limitations exposed in the past. The verdict has to be to stick with Magician until he is beaten. There are just too many question marks over Dawn Approach.
Magician 2-1 Boylesports
