While Saturday’s Rosehill meeting was dominated by the San Domenico Stakes, it also unearthed some interesting prospects for the future.
The G3 San Domenico Stakes for three-year-olds over 1100m saw Golden Slipper winner Vancouver lose his unbeaten race record, the colt finishing fourth just over two lengths from the winner Japonisme.
Despite starting a firm favourite, Vancouver’s defeat was not entirely unexpected if history was factored into the pre-race analysis.Read why History was against Vancouver
Since Tierce was successful in 1991, there have now been four male Golden Slipper winners resume their three-year-old campaign in the San Domenico Stakes - all have been beaten, Flying Spur (8th of 11 in 1995), Dance Hero (3rd of 5 in 2004), Stratum (4th of 11 in 2005) and now Vancouver (4th of 8 in 2015).There is no logical reason for this as all four were high Timeform rating winners of the Golden Slipper with a minimum juvenile winning rating of 122 when turning three.
It will be interesting to see where Vancouver goes next. The three previous Slipper winning San Domenico Stakes failures were also beaten at their next start in the Up And Coming Stakes with two Dance Hero and Stratum failing to win in their first post juvenile racing campaigns.Only Flying Spur was able to bounce back to winning form after running second in the Up And Coming Stakes to take the Phar Lap Stakes (now the Golden Rose), so that might just be where Vancouver regains his pedestal.
That said the San Domenico Stakes form should stand up going forward as the vastly improved Japonisme ran to a new Timeform peak rating of 115 – spot on the five year average winning Timeform rating for the race – the value easily underpinned by a very substantial Timefigure of 124 indicating Japonisme’s winning run or ratings spiral may not be over just yet.Japonisme’s form book also reveals he has comprehensively beaten the clock in each of his last three wins and remains unbeaten since being gelded at the start of this preparation.
The result was almost a replica of the previous meeting with runner up King’s Troop who was again run down by Japonisme but this time getting closer with a half kilo weight swing in his favour.King’s Troop now sits with a new Timeform peak rating of 114 but he may now go for a spell and return in the Autumn – one to watch out for then.
The Godolphin galloper Haptic resumed after some excellent barrier trials and set the pace from the outset. He was responsible for the new race record and for the winner getting to within 0.24 seconds of the track record.Racing and Sports standard time analysis points to the fact they not only went over a second inside standard for the whole race but also inside standard for the last 600m.
Haptic held on well for third a little over a length from the winner running to his juvenile Timeform rating peak of 112.It is reported Haptic will only have one more run in Australia before heading off to Dubai where he will do his future racing.
Given the way the San Domenico Stakes was run, the effort of Vancouver to run fourth was quite sound. He may have lost his unbeaten record but not his host of admirers running to a Timeform rating of 116, just six pounds off his Golden Slipper winning peak figure.Centre Pivot’s win in the open handicap over 1400m upsetting the short priced favourite Countryman signalled better things to come this preparation.
Centre Pivot now under the care of John Sargent is steadily building a handy record that now stands at six wins from 14 starts. While Saturday’s 1400m second up was probably considered short of his best trip, the fact he was able to sit outside the favourite and then come home the last 600m a second inside R&S standards suggests this fellow is going very well indeed.Centre Pivot reached a new Timeform peak of 109 on Saturday with the promise of more to come.
From the same race imported gallopers Silverball and Magic Hurricane can be expected to take great improvement from the race and also need further to show best form.The BM95 race over 1800m won by the Waller-trained Beyond Thankful looks like delivering future winners in the form of imports Orbec, Greatwood and Havana Cool.
Orbec owned by the China Horse Club has some big spring goals in the cross hairs and the former French trained galloper took his first steps toward those on Saturday.Well ridden just off the speed throughout by Tye Angland, he darted through an opening late in the straight and looked set to score until nabbed by the winner right on the line. That was just his second run in twelve months and will take considerable benefit from it. He ran to a Timeform rating of 109, a few pounds below his best overseas form but as so many of these imports do, promises to deliver better figures this preparation.
Pre-race trainer John O’Shea was unsure what to expect from new import Havana Cooler who had not raced since losing his rider at Haydock last September. Prior to that, he had excellent form over 2400m that included a win over recent G1 Coronation Cup winner Pether’s Moon at Newmarket.Ridden for luck back in the field, which did not come early in the home straight, Havana Cooler launched late to be beaten half a length running to a Timeform rating of 97 some 15 pounds below his best UK form.
The Waterhouse import Greatwood already a two-time winner here from six Australian starts resumed with a big weight and was not disgrace finishing fifth running to a Timeform rating of 114, equal to his predicted rating from those earlier wins. No doubt he has come up well is one to watch second up as both his Australian wins have come in that state.Ends..
