Constitution River flows to impressive Dee Stakes performance

IN FULL FLOW: Constitution River wins the Boodles Raindance Dee Stakes in the hands of Ryan Moore. Picture: Martin Rickett/PA 

Aidan O’Brien continued his domination of the Classic trials at Chester when Constitution River won the Boodles Raindance Dee Stakes with real authority on Thursday.

On a controversial afternoon on the Roodee when the second race was delayed by over an hour due to a track inspection, the field for the Derby trial was weakened by the withdrawal of the William Haggas-trained Morshdi, with connections unhappy with ground conditions.

O’Brien was happy to run his son of Wootton Bassett, however, and having landed the Cheshire Oaks with Amelia Earhart and the Chester Vase with Benvenuto Cellini, Constitution River justified 2-9 favouritism with the minimum of fuss.

Whereas Golden Story struggled with the twists and turns, the Ballydoyle inmate, a Group 2 winner last season, travelled as if on rails for Ryan Moore, beating Generic by seven lengths.

Moore said: “He’s a gorgeous horse with very smart form as a juvenile. He had a slight setback and had to miss the end of the year, but he will improve for this race and gave me a lovely feel and I think he’s an exciting horse.

“He’s probably fine at 10 furlongs, but I would say he would have no problem going up in trip and there’s plenty of options open to him.” 

Constitution River was made 7-1 for Epsom by Derby sponsors Betfred, although O’Brien had previously stated he could be a candidate for the French equivalent, while the colt also holds an entry for the St James’s Palace Stakes back over a mile at Royal Ascot.

O’Brien was not at Chester but said from Ballydoyle: “I haven’t had chance to speak to anyone yet, I’ve only seen it on TV, but he looked very nice.

“We were very happy with him. We loved him last year and were really looking forward to seeing him run.

“The reason for running him today was to give us the option of the Derby by running him at Chester, obviously the lads will have a good chat with Ryan and see what they are all thinking.

“We’ve now got the option of going to Epsom as well as France so that’s what we were thinking.”

Stablemate Jan Brueghel defied a lengthy absence to run out an impressive winner of the Ladbrokes Ormonde Stakes.

Early last June the 2024 St Leger winner looked set for a special summer after beating Calandagan in the Coronation Cup at Epsom, but front-running tactics did not work in the King George at Ascot and he did not run again.

Briefly trapped on the rails when the pace quickened, it looked like Sons And Lovers had got first run but once in the clear 4-7 favourite Jan Brueghel quickened impressively for Ryan Moore to beat Mount Atlas by two and a half lengths.

A return to Epsom for the Coolmore-sponsored Coronation Cup now beckons for the impressive winner.

O’Brien said: “We were very happy, obviously he hadn’t run for a long time and the plan was to go back to Epsom with him after this.

“He enjoyed Epsom last year in the Coronation, he was very good there last year so it makes sense to go back there.

“Obviously Coolmore sponsor it now as well so that’s nice.”