A star-studded 13-runner field has been assembled for the Juddmonte International, the £1.25m highlight of the four-day Ebor meeting [Aug 21-24]
The two most important horses currently in training at the world-famous Ballydoyle stables in County Tipperary, Ireland, have entered the most crucial four months of their respective careers.
Both are supremely talented Derby winners; both have blotted their otherwise impressive records with occasional runs that were puzzling, leaving even the most understanding observer rather confused.
Auguste Rodin, the 2023 Epsom hero, has a racing program that will lead him to Tokyo for the 44th running of the Japan Cup on November 24. Winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf, he also holds the usual array of G1 entries in Europe.
As a son of the late Deep Impact, a Japanese icon as racehorse and sire, his overriding value to Ballydoyle and sister breeding operation Coolmore, is as future stallion, capable of tappi
ng the lucrative Japanese market.
The other horse of huge importance, the year-younger City Of Troy, was described by Aidan O’Brien as the best of his 10 Derby winners. The three-year-old heads a stunning international field for the G1 Juddmonte International at York on Wednesday [Aug 21].
The line-up is befitting the richest race ever run on Knavesmire, with £1.25 million ($1.62m) total prize-money – huge by British standards – which is a 25 per cent year-on-year increase.
The Juddmonte International, first run in 1972 and won by some of the greats of the modern era, is the feature a four-day meeting that is as good as anything British racing can produce, challenged only by the glamour and excellence of the Royal meeting at Ascot in June.
That a record 13 runners were declared for the Juddmonte is reason to believe many owners and trainers think City Of Troy is beatable, even if O’Brien says he has never trained a horse like him, one “where we don’t know where his limit is”.
City Of Troy’s form reads five wins from six starts, with the blot on his record being a disappointing ninth in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket in May. The son of Triple Crown winner Justify comes to this after a battling but ultimately underwhelming win in soft ground over Al Riffa, a subsequent G1 winner in Germany, and Ghostwriter in the Coral Eclipse at Sandown.
However, O’Brien is relishing the prospect of his banner colt getting conditions that he believes will show him at his best. “We’re looking forward to it,” he says. “We feel it’s the perfect race for him. He’s a big open, long-striding horse and we always thought that York would suit him well. He went to Sandown and he won but we felt things didn’t work perfect for us but he still won.
“The heavy ground at Sandown was a big disadvantage,” adds the world-leading trainer, who this week reached the 200-week landmark overall as #1 on Thoroughbred Racing Commentary’s Global Rankings.
“He has raced and won on soft ground but he doesn’t like soft ground,” he adds. “He’s come out of the Eclipse very well – he didn’t have a hard race because the pace wasn’t too fast. But he probably didn’t open up the way he could.”
Another three-year-old, the Aga Khan’s Calandagan, is second favourite after a thumping six-length G2 win at Royal Ascot. Although 7lb inferior to City Of Troy on official ratings, he is trained by the excellent Francis-Henri Graffard, who sent out Goliath for a shock victory in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Ascot’s midsummer all-aged championship contest.
“I’m surprised at the depth of the Juddmonte,” Graffard admits. “I thought City Of Troy was going to scare a lot of people so I was not expecting such a big field.
“But Calandagan looks well, and he’s been given plenty of time since his last run. I just hope my horse has a clear run and that he will quicken like he did at Ascot. Then we will see where we stand.”
Calandagan is a gelding, which prevents him running in an elite race such as the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, but there are a variety of rich international contests at the backend of the season that would suit.
Given that Calandagan’s captivating Royal Ascot win came over a mile and a half, Graffard surprised some by being fixed on the Juddmonte, over its extended mile and a quarter. Also, the gelding will not have run for 61 days when he steps out this week.
“Spacing his runs was on purpose,” adds the trainer. “He’s quite a light-framed horse, so he needed a bit of time. I didn’t want to rush him. After Ascot, I wanted to give him a bit of time.
“I scratched the King George from my head, and then we had the option of the Prix Guillame d’Ornano at Deauville or the Juddmonte.
“We were keen to compete in a G1 and also felt that York is a racecourse that suited him better than Deauville, so we decided to run. As for the future, it depends on how he performs over 10 furlongs, if he is suited by that or not. The Juddmonte is the big target first.”
Another French runner of great interest is the Jerome Reynier-trained Zarakem, who finished a game second as a 33-1 outsider to Auguste Rodin in the G1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, while from the Far East comes Durezza, a Japanese St Leger winner, who chased home proven international runner Prognosis in a G2 event over a mile and a quarter two starts back.
A total of 17 three-year-olds have won in the 52 runnings of the Juddmonte International in its various guises, which include the Benson & Haedges Gold Cup and Matchmaker International.
City Of Troy and Calandagan will be joined from the current Classic crop by the Derby runner-up Ambiente Friendly and the Eclipse third Ghostwriter. Alflaila, a course-and -distance specialist, and Israr will sport the blue-and-white Shadwell colours, carried to victory by last year’s winner Mostahdaf.
William Haggas saddled impressive Dante winner Economics to score at Deauville last week in G2 company rather than wait for this G1 showpiece. Instead, the Newmarket trainer is set to saddle Maljoom, who threatens to win a major prize, though Haggas warns that rain would not be welcomed.
“He needs fast ground – and needs to stay the trip,” he warns. “He’s not bred to stay it but he looks to me as if he will.”
Top four-year-old filly Bluestocking, who will carry the sponsor’s colours, is in excellent form, having won a G1 event at the Curragh in June before chasing homeGoliath in the King George.
What a race !
As good as it gets – William Haggas on the Ebor Festival
William Haggas was in short pants and at primary school when he first attended the Ebor meeting. “I’ve been going to York for a long, long time,” he says.
“It’s everything I think a racecourse should aspire to be,” adds the proud Yorkshireman. “Everyone wants to go. The owners, the jockeys, the people, the staff, the racegoers – they all want to go. It’s just fantastic. Great atmosphere; it’s a great week.”
Comparisons of what is offered at festivals at different racecourses can be treacherous ground for one in the front line but Haggas has no qualms. “Goodwood has its place but it’s in the South,” he says.
“Ascot obviously is completely different and unique but York is as good a Festival as you get. They make a great effort to get the prize-money fantastic. Minimum prize-money of £100,000 per race. That wants advertising!”
Asked for his biggest win at York, Haggas has no hesitation. “Baaeed winning the Juddmonte,” he says. “That was a great day because he was up to a mile and a quarter and he was imperious. He was fantastic that day. A great day.”
For all that he loves the Ebor festival, his record in Saturday’s headline staying handicap isn’t the stuff of racing folklore. “I’ve never won the Ebor,” he says.
“I don’t think I’ve got anywhere near. The Ebor’s a great race, a race with great tradition but it’s not a race that I’m itching to win. Frankly, I’m happy to win any race – but I’d love to win the Juddmonte again, and I’d love to win another Yorkshire Oaks.”
Haggas has taken a typically measured approach to planning the three-year-old career of Economics, who looked a serious horse when landing the Dante Stakes, York’s famous trial for the Epsom Derby.
In the event, Economics was not supplemented for the world’s senior Classic, but he did nothing to suggests he isn’t a potential star when he returned after a layoff since May to overwhelm Jayarebe last week in the G2 Prix Guillame d’Ornano at Deauville. As a result, Economics is now #12 (from #107, +291pt) on TRC Global Rankings.
Still, it was perhaps a surprise that Economics having missed the Derby, Haggas did not have a crack at the Juddmonte with a colt who looks more than up to the standard required.
“I felt the Juddmonte was a hard ask after a while,” he points out. “We made that decision a bit ago. I felt that if he’s going to be that material, he’s going to win some nice races for us.”
It had been three months since the Dante Stakes win in May, and there is no doubt Economics will improve again for the outing in France.
Another Baaeed? A different type, a flashy chestnut with great presence – but Haggas and owner Sheikh Isa Salman Al Khalifa, grandson of the King of Bahrain, can surely be optimistic. They have every right to dream.
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