What a great week at Doncaster! Outstrip (9-4) completed four winning days in a row after Lightning Thunder (5-2), The Lark (15-8) and Ihtimal (7-4). The Godolphin colt was very impressive in winning the Champagne Stakes, just as his stable companion had produced a scintillating performance on Friday in the May Hill.
We cross the water on Sunday for the Irish St Leger meeting and I’m hoping that the O’Brien team can provide me with a fifth consecutive winner in the form of Darwin. This colt is an American import and everyone at Ballydoyle has been very excited about him since he arrived. O’Brien has passed up several tempting engagements in a bid to take it slowly with the imposing son of Big Brown and he looks the stand-out bet on a top quality card.
He arrived with a big reputation and was sent off at 11-10 for his debut at Naas where he sauntered to comfortable victory. His next start was a Group 3 at the Curragh and he faced stiff opposition in the form of Gordon Lord Byron. Leitir Mor, usually employed as a pacemaker for Dawn Approach but no mean performer himself, set the pace with Joseph O’Brien content to track him in second place. Gordon Lord Byron was settled in Darwin’s slipstream and the race began in earnest at the two-furlong marker.
For a moment it looked as though Darwin had a fight on his hands but he responded well to pressure and was going much the better at the finish, drawing a length and three-quarters clear. Gordon Lord Byron has won twice since, most notably the Haydock Sprint Cup which he won in a canter. On that evidence, Darwin is going to take high rank in the mile division before the end of the season.
Stable companion Indian Chief looked decent earlier in the season when second in the Dante Stakes at York but has been disappointing since whilst Elleval and Brendan Brackan are well exposed. Fort Knox would be a bigger danger if the going eases in time as he was not disgraced behind Royal Blue Star on his first start since the Irish Guineas.
The Irish St Leger itself has turned out to be slightly disappointing in terms of quality. Galileo Rock ran at Doncaster, Brown Panther misses the race through injury and Simenon is also absent. I hope that Ahzeemah can uphold the form of his victory over Simenon at York and boost the latter’s Melbourne Cup claims.
Darwin 4-6 Bet365
