KING OF KINGS' progress to a possible Derby success of his Own next season remains unruffled after winning yesterday's Railway Stakes, although the fashion of his one-length defeat of stable companion Danyross will have left those carrying ante-post Classic vouchers feeling a little uneasy.
The smoothness of King Of King's debut looked to be absent when Christy Roche started to niggle at the 4 to 1 on favourite two furlongs down, and it was only close home that the exciting colt put Danyross in her place. Roche, like trainer Aidan O'Brien, was unconcerned however.
"I didn't want him to be as impressive as the last day," said Roche. "I was more interested in getting him to relax, and it's important that he's had an easy race. Everything is still intact."
Bookmakers have left King Of Kings on a general price of 7 to 1 for the 1997 2,000 Guineas. O'Brien will run him next in the Anglesey Stakes on Oaks day. "I don't know how good this horse is, but I have no reason to change my view that he's a serious one," O'Brien commented. "All we have been doing with him at home is teaching him how to relax."
When O'Brien withdrew Crown Regent from the American Bowl International Stakes, it turned into an all-British race, and the favourite, Alhaarth, proved best of the visitors, beating last year's winner Gothenberg by a length.
"It's important that he won today. We had been considering the Eclipse, hut Sheikh Hamdan thought that this was a golden opportunity," said Godolphin spokesman Simon Chrisford. "He's probably best at 10 furlongs but he'll be entered in all the top mile races too."
The Curragh Cup also went for export when Pat Eddery and John Dunlop gained some measure of compensation for Silver Patriarch when Orchestra Stall easily beat Zafarabad by five lengths.
The £40,000 Roarty Memorial Scurry Handicap provided Buttevant, Co Cork, born Colm O'Donoghue (16), with a memorable second racecourse success when Theano turned the six-furlong dash into a procession. O'Donoghue rode his first winner at Sligo only 11 days ago by a short head, but he had no such trouble yesterday as Theano confirmed some earlier promise.
John Oxx and Dermot Weld provided the dead heaters Natal is and Two-Twenty-Two in the opening maiden, and Weld went on to land the Guinness Handicap with the gambled-on Zankle. The stewards held an inquiry into the result, and noted the explanations of Weld and Pat Shanahan who rode Zankle in his previous race.
On Saturday, Dance Design proved she will be a force to reckon with in the very highest class for the rest of the season with a silky victory in the Pretty Polly Stakes.
Winning the Group Two contest for the second year running, Dance Design made all under Michael Kinane to beat Chania by two-and-a-half lengths and set herself up for a jet set campaign.
Trainer Dermot Weld said Dance Design will go for a Group One race in Munich next, which Weld won in 1992 with Market Booster, followed by a tilt at the Beverly D Stakes in Chicago, a race won by Timarida last year.
"We knew she was effective on fast ground, but now we know she goes on the soft too. There's a lot to look forward to for the rest of the year," Weld smiled. "There's a possibility of going for the Arc also. She seems a stronger filly this season.
The rest of Saturday's card was dominated by a 148 to 1 Jim Bolger treble. The highlight of the trio was Via Verbano's impressive success in the Waterford Crystal Celebration Race, which prompted Bolger to nominate the Irish Oaks as Via Verbano's next assignment.
"She's an improving filly and had no chance from a bad draw at Royal Ascot. We will not see the best of her until she tackles 10 furlongs, or perhaps a mile-and-a-half," Bolger said.
Bolger quickly followed up with Beach Project, who held off the favourite Cinnamon Rose in the IAWS Handicap, and Ganaway battled well to beat Stonehaven by three parts of a length in the concluding maiden.
