Best Group 2 in the world?

[NoChanceToDance]

I think Fame And Glory could be very good. I say "think" because won very, very well on his debut this year (when Aidan's horses have been needing the run and so far have failed to impress). He seemed to win easily there and will no doubt come on a bundle, as all of Aidan's do.

However, I don't like the fact he was able to win over ten furlongs on heavy ground as a two year old. To me that suggests he could be rather slow.

I'm also not convinced that Aidan has a great crop of middle distance three year old colts this year. He seems to be taking stabs in the dark at all of the Derby trials, with horses seemingly not good enough (although won the Derby trial at Lingfield today). I just think that this could be a pretty lean year for O'Brien.

Mourayan looked good last year but was put in his place by Fame and Glory last month, and although he will improve for that, he surely can't have been so much further behind the O'Brien runner in terms of fitness? He's another one that would seem to be too slow this year.

Your thoughts, Brock?

[brockguy]

No Chance, its a very tough race to decipher. Its surely between the top 2 who could both be potential superstars. It's hard enough to take the last race completely at face value as Mourayan was checked coming round the home turn and surely would have gone much closer than he did. Whatever happens today, he defo looks a 12f horse. I was surprised Fame and Glory won last time out as O'Brien's horses were in such desperate form but he won it well enough. He only has a 3lb penalty today compared to a 5lb one in the Ballysax. If he is typical O'Brien type, he should improve a ton for the Ballysax run which is quite a scary thought. I laid him last night at 1.82 as he was far too short, I might decide to back him if he goes to about 2.2 or so.
Oxx sounds reasonably confident in Mourayan today so I think I'll side with him but I dont think I'll be playing it big.

Its strange that we could have 2 top notchers here today bred to relish the Derby trip but both stables potentially have a better Derby candidate in their barn.

[hoovesupsideyourhead]

high chap should have won the bc race..le franco de stiffo

[NoChanceToDance]

Well, I take that back about Fame And Glory could turn out to be slow. However, I think we can say that Mourayan could be put under that category.

Ridden confidently, travelled well, quickened and powered away. Scary thought is that he'll be better over a mile and half, but with Mourayan looking very one paced there is a question mark as to what he beat in winning this.

Mourayan looks like the St Leger type and in time could turn out to be a serious cup horse, but you'd have to say he wouldn't have the speed to win at Epsom.

Fame And Glory looks to have everything, but like I say I'm not going to go over board about him (unlike the bookmakers) as I'm not sure what this form is worth. I'm pretty sure that if Gan Amhras had turned up for this, he'd have either won or pushed Fame And Glory right to the line.

Thoughts?

[brockguy]

No Chance, just got a chance to see the race, I was impressed with the winner. Usually O'Brien's winners in this race arent that visually impressive (Galileo and High Chap just won after being impressive in the Ballysax), but this guy looked the goods. I have to say I, along with plenty of others with Mourayan. He should have improved for his first run, but didnt really and is slightly concerning. He may be badly in need of a step up in trip and Ill judge him on his next efforts.

I was surprised to see Nick Mordin have quite a negative view of the race. Fame and Glory will go to Epsom as a deserving favourite, but there are plenty of would be challengers. We'll know plenty more after the always informative Dante tomorrow.

[NoChanceToDance]

I just get the impression that Fame And Glory beat very little the other day. I do like him and he's obviously a horse with plenty of class, but to me, he's beaten a very slow horse who will need a trip and very little else.

I think there are other horses that deserve to be shorter in the betting than this fella.