The sound of singing football fans – presumably at the King Power Stadium – which accompanied The Foxes back to the winner’s enclosure after the Dante Stakes here on Thursday did not feel entirely appropriate, given Leicester City’s current struggles to escape relegation from the Premier League.
Wherever the footballing Foxes are plying their trade next season, however, the club’s owners have a serious runner in next month’s Derby, after a trial which mainly confirmed that this year’s Classic is one of the most open for years.
Last year’s Dante produced an emphatic winner in Desert Crown, who went on to win the Derby as the 5-2 favourite. The first four home this time around were separated by a neck, one and a quarter lengths and a dead heat, and along with The Foxes, the runner-up, White Birch, and possibly The Passenger, joint-third on only his second start, may also go to Epsom with a realistic each-way chance.
But The Foxes will be a fair bet to confirm Thursday’s form at least, as he switched off beautifully for Oisin Murphy before travelling into the race and carving out a lead in a style of a horse who could well improve over the extra quarter-mile at Epsom.
The Foxes was cut to around 8-1 for the Derby after Thursday’s success by most bookmakers – although Coral and Ladbrokes still offer a standout 16-1 - while White Birch is around 16-1 in a market now headed by Military Order, the Lingfield Derby Trial winner, at a top price of 4-1.
Andrew Balding, who trains The Foxes, has already seen his own team, Southampton, relegated to the Championship, but will hope for a much happier reason to remember 2023 on 3 June.
“We’ve gone close in the Derby a few times, but I think he’d be the best chance we’ve had going there,” Balding said, “as both Hoo Ya Mal [last year’s runner-up] and Khalifa Sat [second home three years ago] were big prices.
“His half-brother, Bangkok, went there well fancied, but he ran poorly. We always thought he’d stay, but he was a real 10-furlong horse. I think he [The Foxes] will stay as his dam got a mile and a half well [and] his full sister won over a mile and six.”
Earlier on the card, John Gosden’s Free Wind survived a stewards’ inquiry after the Middleton Stakes to make a winning seasonal debut in a Group Two for the second year running and is now likely to head for the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot next month.
Free Wind has now registered Group Two wins on her last three outings but the fact that all three were in different campaigns is a clear sign that she has not been an easy filly to train.
Her recovery to win last season’s Lancashire Oaks despite suffering severe interference two furlongs out was one of the performances of the year and she showed similar grit to stay on again in the closing stages and win going away after Rogue Millennium came with a strong challenge on her outside.
Free Wind drifted slightly to her right in the final furlong but was half a length up and extending her lead at the line and the stewards allowed the result to stand.
“She got up and won [at Haydock] despite that near fatal accident and has come back from a nasty injury and 10 months off,” Gosden said. “It was a long way for her to come back, physically and mentally. She’s done that and showed a great attitude, so we couldn’t be more pleased with her.
“She was running way below her trip today. She wasn’t originally in the race, but Mr [George] Strawbridge [Free Wind’s owner] is over from America to see Epictetus run in the Dante and we thought we’d supplement Free Wind and run her, too.
“We’re very clear that we’re going a mile and a half next time. She’s in the Hardwicke [at Royal Ascot] and that would be a strong possibility at this stage.”
Free Wind was trimmed to 20-1 (from 25-1) for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe by Paddy Power, in a market headed by the 2022 Derby winner, Desert Crown, who is due to run for the first time since his Epsom success in next Thursday’s Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown.
Siskany on course to lift Yorkshire Cup
The Group Two Yorkshire Cup at York on Friday does not feel quite the same without the now-retired Stradivarius in the line-up, but with Kyprios, last year’s Ascot Gold Cup winner, also likely to be missing from the field at the Royal meeting next month due to injury, the stage is set for a fresh face to emerge at the top of the staying division.
A few of the runners in this year’s renewal are fresher than others, however, as Broome, a winner on World Cup night in Dubai last time out, set off as 4-1 second-favourite for the Derby in 2019, all of 24 starts ago, and finished less than a length behind the winner.
But his success in the Dubai Gold Cup in March came on only his second career start at two miles, so he is all but making a new start as a stayer at the age of seven, as is Siskany, who was a neck behind him at Meydan on his first attempt at the trip.
Friday’s race is back at 14 furlongs, but they should both provide a stern test for Eldar Eldarov, last year’s St Leger winner, as he sets out on his four-year-old career giving weight to the field, while Quickthorn, last season’s easy Lonsdale Cup winner, is another live contender.
It promises to be a fascinating renewal of the first big staying event of the season, and the pick of the early prices could well be Siskany (3.35) at around 4-1.
Charlie Appleby’s gelding travelled like the best horse in the field at Meydan and was only reeled in late by Broome, so Friday’s shorter trip and a handy 3lb concession from Broome could be all he needs to reverse the form.
York 1.50 The clock backed up the visual impression of Persian Dreamer’s three-and-a-quarter length win on debut at Newmarket last month and she will be very tough to beat with more improvement likely.
Newbury 2.05 Tuxedo Junction caught the eye on his return to action over track and trip and runs off the same mark here.
York 2.25 The market revolves around Silver Lady and Queen For You, but Stormy Sea was also deeply impressive in victory last time out and could be overpriced at around 7-1.
Newbury 1.30 Mabre 2.05 Tuxedo Junction 2.40 Rust E Boy 3.15 Resolute Man 3.50 Equatorial 4.20 Tony Montana 4.55 Roar Emotion 5.26 Bunker Bay
Newmarket 1.40 Society Lion 2.15 Hidden Story 2.50 Qaasid 3.25 Adjuvant 4.00 Laoisman 4.35 Tarbaan 5.05 Oriental Dancer
York 1.50 Persian Dreamer 2.25 Stormy Sea 3.00 Aramaic (nb) 3.35 Siskany (nap) 4.10 Mostabshir 4.45 It Just Takes Time 5.15 Thankuappreciate
Aintree 5.20 Father Of Jazz 5.55 The Big Bite 6.30 Basford 7.05 Boombawn 7.40 Lounge Lizard 8.15 Malaita 8.50 Cadell
Hamilton 5.40 Midnight Lir 6.15 Mews House 6.50 Arkenstar 7.25 Burj Malinka 7.55 Faylaq 8.26 Basholo 9.00 Willing To Please
York 3.00 Aramaic has a long absence to overcome but William Haggas is more than capable of getting one ready first time up and his lightly-raced gelding’s form includes a convincing success over track and trip from just a 5lb lower mark.
York 4.10 Mostabshir is the one to beat here having looked sure to progress significantly from his fifth place in the Craven Stakes, on just his second start, at Newmarket last month.
