Article Date: 06-April-2011
Workforce (pictured below) stormed to a brilliant victory in last season’s Investec Derby and Sir Michael Stoute’s charge is among a fantastic 27-strong entry for the £250,000 Investec Coronation Cup at Epsom Downs that also includes the outstanding 2010 Investec Oaks heroine Snow Fairy and Australian superstar So You Think.
The Group One race on Friday, June 3, is the season’s first championship test in Britain for older horses over a mile and a half and Workforce could attempt to rewrite the record books as no Investec Derby winner has triumphed in the Investec Coronation Cup since Roberto in 1973.
Last season’s champion three-year-old colt capped a fine campaign with victory in the Group One Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in October, but prior to his Derby victory, he had experienced defeat at the hands of subsequent Irish Derby and Irish Champion Stakes hero Cape Blanco in York’s Dante Stakes.
Cape Blanco is one of six entries for Ireland’s champion trainer Aidan O’Brien, who could run last season’s victor Fame And Glory as well as the Australian sensation So You Think, who joined the Ballydoyle team from the great Bart Cummings’ stable after finishing a non-staying third in the Melbourne Cup over two miles at Flemington in November.
Coolmore purchased a majority share in So You Think for a reputed AUS$25 million. The New Zealand bred is a five-time Group One winner in his homeland and the five-year-old numbers among those triumphs a brilliant victory in the 2010 Cox Plate, Australia’s premier weight-for-age race.
Snow Fairy added the Irish Oaks to her Investec Oaks win last June and enjoyed a pair of stunning Group/Grade One victories in the Far East at the end of 2010, winning the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup in Japan and the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup.
At York in August, Snow Fairy caught a tartar in the form of the Henry Cecil-trained 2009 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf heroine Midday, herself a five-time Group/Grade One winner, who stormed to victory in the Yorkshire Oaks from Ed Dunlop’s charge.
Both Midday and Workforce carry the colours of Khalid Abdulla and the owner has also engaged Redwood, successful for trainer Barry Hills in the Grade One Northern Dancer Turf Stakes at Woodbine in Canada in September.
Godolphin has seven entries split between trainers Saeed bin Suroor and Mahmood Al Zarooni, including the latter’s stable star Rewilding, third to Workforce in last year’s Investec Derby and over three lengths superior to runner-up Redwood when powering to success in the Group One Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan last month.
The Al Zarooni-trained Monterosso was third to Victoire Pisa in the Group One Dubai World Cup on his latest start, while bin Suroor has engaged dual Group One winner Campanologist, 2009 Group One Grand Prix de Paris victor Cavalryman and Group Two victor Prince Bishop.
Scalolanded the Group One Preis Von Europa last term and the Andreas Wohler-trained five-year-old could bid to follow 2002 winner Boreal as a German-trained winner of the race.
James Given saddled Dandino to win the Investec Vincent O’Brien Handicap on Investec Derby Day at Epsom Downs last year off a mark of 82 and the Dansili colt progressed to a rating of 113 through the season thanks to smart efforts in Pattern company.
After winning the King George V Handicap at Royal Ascot, Dandino was beaten a head by Rebel Soldier in the Group Three Gordon Stakes at Glorious Goodwood before contesting the Group One St Leger, and ended his three-year-old season when six lengths behind the winner Rose Kingdom in the Grade One Japan Cup.
Given revealed today: “You have to make these Group One entries in advance and it is the hope that he can make it to the Investec Coronation Cup. He achieved a rating of 113 last year so the handicapper thinks he’s not too far away.
“He ran well in the Japan Cup. As a three-year-old it was a big ask and we went there to try and get experience for the horse. I was very happy with that run and I think it did provide him with some valuable education.
“He only won handicaps last year so he is still eligible for conditions races. We might start off in a mile and a half conditions race at Ripon in a couple of weeks time, which could be a nice way to blow away the cobwebs in the lead up to maybe going to the Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket before looking more closely at the Investec Coronation Cup.
“In the St Leger, rather than not staying the trip, I think the ground got horribly loose after that heavy rain about an hour before the race. Rewilding was in trouble from the moment he jumped the gate, as I think we were too. We will start off at a mile and a half but we could try him over a mile and three quarters again and he already has entries in the Yorkshire Cup and Irish St Leger, so trying again at further is something we’ll consider.”
Given has also entered Indian Days, successful in the Group Two International Bosphorous Cup at Veliefendi in Turkey when defeating Sri Putra and German Derby winner Buzzword. The six-year-old rounded out last year when ninth to Mastery in the Group One Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin.
The Lincolnshire handler added: “I thought Indian Days ran well in Hong Kong at the end of what was a very long season for him. He missed the break and Frankie (Dettori on Mastery) sewed it all up from the front so that there was no way that something was going to come from behind.
“He’s a Group Two winner, so wherever he goes, unless it’s in a Group One, he’s going to have a penalty.
“You have to keep your options open and Indian Days has also been entered for the invitation races in Hong Kong and Singapore.”
Such is the strength of this year’s entry that 16 individual Group/Grade One winners have been engaged, others being the O’Brien-trained pair of Jan Vermeer and St Nicholas Abbey, the Brian Meehan-trained Breeders’ Cup Turf hero Dangerous Midge, the Mark Johnston-trained Jukebox Jury and the Jeremy Noseda-trained Irish St Leger scorer Sans Frontieres.
The remaining entries are the Roger Varian-trained pair of Laaheb and Alainmaar, as well as Await The Dawn, Calvados Blues, Clowance, Sajjhaa and the David Lanigan-trained Meeznah, disqualified after finishing
second to Snow Fairy in the Investec Oaks.
For further information, please contact:
Rupert Trevelyan, Managing Director at Epsom Downs Racecourse, on 01372 726311
Andrew Cooper, Director of Racing at Epsom Downs Racecourse, on 07774 230850
Johnno Spence at JSC Sport on 07860 583307
THE INVESTEC CORONATION CUP
Group One, £250,000 Total Prize Fund. Epsom Downs, Friday, June 3, 2011. For four-year-olds and upwards, one mile & four furlongs. Weights; colts and geldings 9st; fillies 8st 11lb. Entries closed April 5, entries revealed April 6 (27 entries), scratchings deadline May 17, six-day confirmation & £20,000 supplementary stage May 28, final declaration stage 10.00am, June 1. Form figures supplied by Weatherbys and are correct up to and including the racing of Monday, April 3.
Form Horse Age Owner Trainer
211/11- ALAINMAAR (FR) 5 Hamdan Al Maktoum Roger Varian
10/11- AWAIT THE DAWN (USA) 4 Michael Tabor & Sue Magnier Aidan O'Brien IRE
(0)-(0)2123 CALVADOS BLUES (FR) 5 Godolphin Mahmood Al Zarooni
431130- CAMPANOLOGIST (USA) 6 Godolphin Saeed bin Suroor
01210-(4) CAPEBLANCO(IRE) 4Fitri Hay/Derrick Smith/Sue Magnier/Michael TaborAidan O'Brien IRE
504303- CAVALRYMAN 5 Godolphin Saeed bin Suroor
4/24/010- CLOWANCE 6 Seasons Holidays Roger Charlton
111200- DANDINO 4 Elite Racing Club James Given
61011-0 DANGEROUS MIDGE (USA) 5 Iraj Parvizi Brian Meehan
311115- FAME AND GLORY 5 Derrick Smith, Sue Magnier, Michael Tabor Aidan O'Brien IRE
601160- INDIAN DAYS 6 D J Fish James Given
11/1433- JAN VERMEER (IRE) 4 Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith & Sue Magnier Aidan O'Brien IRE
2/01004- JUKEBOX JURY (IRE) 5 Alan Spence Mark Johnston
212(1)1-4LAAHEB 5 Hamdan Al Maktoum Roger Varian
1D4430- MEEZNAH (USA) 4 Saif Ali & Saeed Altayer David Lanigan
1/21112- MIDDAY 5 Khalid Abdulla Henry Cecil
1405-1(3) MONTEROSSO 4 Godolphin Mahmood Al Zarooni
1111-(5)(0) PRINCE BISHOP (IRE) 4 Godolphin Saeed bin Suroor
12132-2 REDWOOD 5 Khalid Abdulla Barry Hills
21316-1 REWILDING 4 Godolphin Mahmood Al Zarooni
104121- SAJJHAA 4 Godolphin Saeed bin Suroor
664111- SANS FRONTIERES (IRE) 5 Sir Robert Ogden Jeremy Noseda
115011- SCALO 4 Gestut Ittlingen Andreas Wohler GER
112411- SNOW FAIRY (IRE) 4 Anamoine Ltd Ed Dunlop
111113- SO YOU THINK (NZ) 5 Smith/Magnier/Tabor/Nam/Yahaya Aidan O'Brien IRE
111/6-3 ST NICHOLAS ABBEY (IRE) 4 Derrick Smith, Sue Magnier, Michael Tabor Aidan O'Brien IRE
1/2151- WORKFORCE 4 Khalid Abdulla Sir Michael Stoute
27 Entries
6 Irish-trained
1 German-trained
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