Magician looks like he still has a few tricks up his sleeve
Presumably there was some element of doom and gloom after their horses performed rather poorly at Meydan, although it hardly lasted very long.
If there was a Ballydoyle inmate to take out of this meeting then it was surely Magician, even though he only managed seventh of 14 finishers in the Group 1 won by Gentildonna.
When Magician ran away with the Irish 2000 Guineas at the Curragh last May, the son of Galileo looked a star of the future.
But then he performed deplorably in the St James’ Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, ninth of nine behind Dawn Approach.
Magician probably should never have gone to Ascot, of course, having reportedly fallen when emerging from the equine pool at Ballydoyle on the lead-in to the contest.
The St James’ Palace was on June 18 and he wasn’t seen again until sent to Santa Anita in America for the Breeders’ Cup on November 2.
Asked to run over a mile and a half for the first time, and absent for almost five months, Magician flew through late to mug The Fugue and score by half a length.
Even by Aidan O’Brien standards it represented a terrific training performance. And so it came to pass that the horse again tried 12 furlongs at Meydan.
Ridden out the back by Joseph O’Brien, he was always going to need the gaps to appear at the right time. They never did and Magician got no sort of run at all up the straight and, essentially, came home in his rider’s hands.
In the end Magician was beaten three lengths in total and the bare result gives little indication of what actually took place. I think we will want to be with him, until knowing better.
The Ballydoyle boys were back in full flow for Leopardstown on Sunday and this was all about horses from that quarter which more than caught the eye.
The first was a Galileo newcomer called Ruby Tuesday, who came from behind to claim fourth spot in the fillies maiden won by Ceisteach.
Then there was Adjusted, whose turn cannot possibly be long delayed, after he was run down through the final furlong by Dermot Weld’s Fascinating Rock in a colts and geldings maiden.
In that same race you’d have to be forgiven for thinking that Ballydoyle’s Tigris River, who took fourth spot, might benefit from the education afforded him.
And one non-Ballydoyle horse that was particularly noted was John Oxx’s Ebanoran, who came from well off the pace to claim third spot behind Go For Goal and Shining Emerald in the 2000 Guineas Trial Stakes.
Well, Willie Mullins’ Un De Sceaux kept his unbeaten record at Auteuil last Saturday, it is now eight from eight, but this was far too close for comfort.
Five of his previous successes had come in Ireland, all over two miles. Basically, he won them in a canter, had never been tested, thus leaving everyone in the dark as to how good he really was.
We learned more at Auteuil than we had in any of his other races. For instance, on what we had seen of him, there was every reason to believe Un De Sceaux would be an even better horse when stepping up in trip.
That certainly appears to no longer be the case. The Auteuil contest was over two miles, three and a half furlongs and, for most of the journey, the six-year-old shaped as an absolute flying machine. Indeed, turning for home, the only question to be answered was naming the winning distance.
But Un De Sceaux got very tired from the final flight and was all out near the line to hold Gemix, who was conceding him 8lbs, a rapidly diminishing short neck.
The air of invincibility that surrounded Un De Sceaux has now effectively disappeared and, for the first time, he’s looking vulnerable.
What the French race told us emphatically was that the decision to swerve the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham was undoubtedly the right one.
So far trainer-Mullins has got just about everything right when it comes to this horse and his next move is eagerly awaited.
Today the Grand National at Aintree obviously takes centre stage and, though much sanitised, it still promises to be a half-decent spectacle.
I haven’t a clue as to who will win, but it would be nice to see Tidal Bay defying top weight and advancing years, or, alternatively, Prince De Beauchene delivering.
The reason is quite simple, they will carry the colours of Graham and Andrea Wylie, who also own On His Own, beaten a short head by Lord Windermere in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Lord Windermere survived a stewards’ inquiry before being confirmed the winner and it would have been no surprise at all had the decision gone the other way.
The Wylies then had the option of appealing the controversial conclusion of the Cheltenham stewards, but decided they didn’t want to land a Gold Cup that way.
It represented sportsmanship of the very highest order and only people with real class could have acted in such a manner.
