Kin set to be King for a day
Plenty of observers seem obsessed with the three-year-old crop not being up to the standard of the older horses this year, but it’s surely churlish to pick holes in Kris Kin, who has done almost everything asked of him since he stepped foot on the racecourse.
Beaten first time out as a juvenile at Doncaster, he has made rapid progress indeed since then.
Notoriously lazy at home, he was taken out of the Do little on the Newmarket gallops.
Even his jockey Kieren Fallon deserted him when he took part in the Dee Stakes at Chester, but the champion was left to regret that decision as Kris Kin swooped past his mount Big Bad Bob with plenty of dash.
That effort convinced connections to shell out £90,000 to add him to the field for the Vodafone Derby and they were rewarded in handsome fashion as Fallon gave him a peach of a ride to take the blue riband.
He really picked up well when asked and was readily holding The Great Gatsby and Alamshar at the line.
Alamshar may or may not have handled the track as well as he might that day, and the suspicion is that he may have been ridden with a few stamina doubts in the back of Johnny Murtagh’s mind.
He certainly looked the business when upsetting the previously unbeaten Dalakhani next time in the Irish equivalent, but whatever the excuse for him at Epsom he was not getting to Kris Kin and there is no obvious reason why he should get past him today either. More than a few rain clouds have gathered over Ascot recently and a bit of juice in the ground is just the job for Kris Kin, while the opposite can be said of Alamshar.
Stoute raised a few eyebrows by not sending Kris Kin to the Curragh, but you can be sure he will have him absolutely cherry ripe today and the break will have done him good, as you can’t win a Derby without having a hard race.
New Seeker was not supposed to win the Britannia Stakes from his draw in stall 27 but he tore up that particular script with victory in the big Ascot handicap.
The Clive Cox-trained colt is a strikingly big individual with bags of ability and plenty of pace.
His Royal success came over a mile, but he has winning handicap form over seven furlongs, the trip he encounters tomorrow in the Tote International Stakes.
His trainer is not in the least bit worried about the drop in trip and he would have been a handy winner at the seven pole in the Britannia.
He is another who will not mind any rain and he is definitely entitled to improve again as he has only had six races in his life.
