with leader, ridden over 2f out, stayed on same pace final furlong
held up, ridden and headway over 1f out, soon one pace
led, ridden 1f out, edged right inside final furlong, headed post
dwelt, held up in rear, never nearer
in touch, ridden 3f out, weakened over 1f out
prominent, ridden and chased leader over 1f out, stayed on to lead post
held up, headway 2f out, stayed on same pace final furlong
held up, not trouble leaders
As you would expect, there are a number of progressive juveniles on show here, but we'll side with King Hesperus from the mighty Ballydoyle stable to get the better of Bayeux and Barbajuan. The latter, trained by Neville Callaghan, won his first two starts at Lingfield and Kempton, but performed even better in defeat when fourth to Three Valleys in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot. He was set plenty to do that day and is certainly going the right way. David Loder saddles three of the field, with Frankie Dettori optong to ride Bayeux, who won his only start at Goodwood, in a race which has thrown up no fewer than seven subsequent winners. He could easily turn out to be something special, but we just prefer Aidan O'Brien's King Hesperus. this $330,000 Kingmambo colt made a winning debut at Gowran Park, although he was subsequently disqualified, and then followed up in a Listed contest at Leopardstown, beating Jemmy's Brother by two lengths. He looks more than capable of winning a group race on that evidence, and just gets our vote in what should prove to be a cracking contest.
