Field Of Gold at the Curragh in May

The Royal meeting kicks off with the G1 St James’s Palace Stakes as the centerpiece of day one.

Juddmonte’s Field Of Gold is the warm order favourite to pass the post first. He comes here on the back of an Irish 2000 Guineas win after running second at Newmarket. The loss at Newmarket cost Kiernan Shoemark his job as retained jockey to trainers John and Thady Gosden. His ride was overconfident, and when he came out of the dip, he couldn’t pick up enough ground to bridge the gap with the winner, oh, for another 25 yards.

At the Curragh, it was tight, that is, in the pre-parade ring, a piece of kit was missing and had to be fetched; in the meantime, Field Of Gold did laps of the ring, calm as a summer breeze. It was when he was brought into the box to be saddled that he became fresh, quite fresh, on his toes, tossing his head, nearly taking the head off his stable lad, back out of the box, he was quiet as a mouse again, he was just got in time, to do one lap of the ring. When Colin Keane mounted, any drama was over. Going down, he could feel his power; he was in no doubt, he’ll be the best I’ve ridden, all he had to do was punch him home. And so he did, winning as he liked, going 3¾L clear for an impressive win.

At Newmarket, it was Ruling Court that got the better of him. The plan thereafter was the Derby, but on the day, he was pulled out after jockey William Buick advised the ground would be too soft. Rerouting back to a mile, over such a short space of time, will have certainly presented some challenge to trainer Charlie Appleby.

Ballydoyle sends a trio, First Wave under Dylan Browne McGonagle, will most likely set the pace for Henri Matisse, the winner of Poule d’Essai des Poulains, he’ll once again be ridden by Ryan Moore. When he asked him for effort, turning into the straight, there were eight ahead of him, he mowed them down under a beautiful ride from his ice-cool pilot to win a head from Jonquil. Officer, the mount of Wayne Lordan, finished a never-threatening 7¾L behind Fields Of Gold at the Curragh.

Henri Matisse chases home Scorty Champ in the National Stakes at the Curragh last year

Brian Meehan’s Rashabar will be ridden by Sean Levey; he did better than Officer at the Curragh, finishing a 5¼L fourth to Field Of Gold. In the Greenham Stakes in April, he’d finished second to Jonquil, beaten 1½L.

Windlord, trained by Andrew Balding, the mount of Oisin Murphy, finished eighth at the Curragh, beaten 8L.

Sum Up

The market is confident that the best three-year-old miler is Field Of Gold; he trades as 8/11 favourite with his conqueror Ruling Court at Newmarket best priced at 100/30, Henri Matisse has drifted this morning to 9/2.

There’s no doubt Field Of Gold was visually very impressive at the Curragh in a race run in a time of 1m 36.58s (fast by 0.12s), which compares well with Ruling Court’s Newmarket win, a race run in 1m 37.28s (slow by 1.18s). In Paris, Henri Mattisse clocked a time of 1m 33.91s (fast by 1.29s).

Conditions will be quick today, the ground is forecast to be good to firm. Field Of Gold has only met these conditions once before, on debut, at Doncaster last June, he was beaten on good to firm, finishing third. Ruling Court, likewise, has only faced good to firm once before; he was beaten, placed third, behind The Loin in Winter in the Acomb at York. Henri Matisse won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Firm at Del Mar last year. The ground at Longchamp was officially described as good; it rode particularly quick for his French Guineas win.

Royal Ascot can be raucous, it may just get to Field Of Gold. Ruling Court was wound up for the Derby trip; the readjustment to a mile might tell. Given his proven ability to handle fast conditions, Henri Matisse looks overpriced, and he’s one to back.

Recommendation

Henri Matisse 9/2 win