RACING NEWS ROUND-UP:THE DERBY countdown continues with today's Chester Vase featuring two Aidan O'Brien starters but John Oxx yesterday revealed he believes it is just "50-50" about Sea The Stars lasting out the famous mile and a half at Epsom in early June.
Last weekend’s 2,000 Guineas winner is a general 7 to 2 favourite to complete the classic double and while Oxx confirmed Sea The Stars was on course for an attempt on what Nashwan last achieved 20 years ago, he reckons it is a toss of a coin about the colt staying the trip.
“I just don’t know if he will stay and nobody else does either. It is a 50-50 situation. I think a little bit of a step up in trip will suit him. I’m sure a mile and a quarter is within his range but no one can know until the day about the mile and a half,” the Curragh trainer said yesterday.
“On pedigree there is a doubt, but also a good chance he will stay,” he added.
“If there was only a slim chance of him staying, we wouldn’t bother running him. But there is a chance, and the prize is worth chasing. Horses that win the Guineas and the Derby are rare.”
A total of 34 horses have managed the double with Nashwan the last in 1989. He in turn bridged a 19-year gap back to Nijinksy in 1970.
Shergar in 1981 was the last horse to win the Chester Vase on route to winning at Epsom but Aidan O’Brien will be hoping that Masterofthehorse can start living up to his own classic pedigree this afternoon.
Masterofthehorse is a full brother to the double-Oaks heroine Alexandrova and ran a close third to Sea The Stars and Mourayan in last year’s Beresford Stakes at the Curragh before disappointing in the Racing Post Trophy.
His jockey, John Murtagh, said yesterday: “He was a little disappointing towards the end of last year but he has been working well and he was always going to improve as a three year old.”
O’Brien also runs Golden Sword (Colm O’Donoghue) in today’s Group Three feature but a strong home team is headed by the Epsom Trial winner Debussy as well as Above Average who scored in the Sandown Trial last month.
Oxx also confirmed yesterday that Arazan, another potentially high-class member of his three-year-old team, will be seen next in the Irish 2,000 Guineas, the sole home classic he has yet to win.
“We were keen to run him at Newmarket and he was going very well but we didn’t want to run him first time out on quick ground,” Oxx reported.
“There are a few good horses around that didn’t run at Newmarket but Arazan will run in the Irish Guineas. We like him. He’s a good horse and was a very good two-year-old though he didn’t run up to form in the National Stakes. He is a working companion of Sea The Stars and over a mile I don’t think there is much between them.”
Meanwhile, the Curragh authorities have announced a series of price reductions for 2009 including 20 per cent off all admission prices if booked in advance on-line.
Special admission packages also include a new €20 package that includes admission, a race card, a €2 Tote bet and a €5 food and beverage voucher.
Jim Bolger and his former pupil Aidan O’Brien fought out a memorable French 2,000 Guineas two years ago and a repeat could be on in 2009 with Intense Focus topping some ante-post betting lists for the Poule D’Essai Des Poulains at Longchamp this Sunday.
The Bolger-trained Dewhurst winner has been installed a 7 to 2 favourite in first betting shows for the Paris classic but it is O’Brien’s number one hope Westphalia who is rated next best at 4 to 1.
Today’s home action at Clonmel sees the versatile stayer Kerryhead Windfarm return to longer distances in the two-mile handicap and this task should suit Séamus Heffernan’s mount much more than the mile and a quarter he faced at Leopardstown on his return to action.
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