THERE is no intention for this column to become a jockey fan page, but it is hard to let Irish Guineas weekend pass without praising Ryan Moore, deeply uncomfortable though the rider may be with anyone celebrating him.

Yes, it can be argued that he’s on the best horses, but he still needs to execute, and he did just that across the three days of the meeting, riding seven winners in all, six of them from the front, or close to it.

Pride of place has to go to Luxembourg in the Tattersalls Gold Cup, the four-year-old back at the top table, if he ever was away. Much of the pre-race discussion was around tactics and what might make the running but Moore used the element of surprise with his mount, sending Luxembourg to the lead when he had been dropped in to some extent on his previous eight starts.

Things went right for him, not only in how the track was riding, seeming to favour pace throughout Sunday’s card with the fast ground and, perhaps, the wind bringing that about, but also in that Vadeni disappointed and Bay Bridge had to wait for his run. Even so, the way Luxembourg and the runner-up pulled away from the rest in the final furlong was impressive.

Per Timeform, Luxembourg covered the final three furlongs 0.15 seconds slower than Bay Bridge but more importantly both were the guts of a half a second quicker than any other horse on the card from that point despite racing over the extended 10 furlongs, and those rapid late splits came on top of an impressive overall time.

Incidentally, fast final sectionals are nothing new for Luxembourg. When he won the Beresford Stakes as a two-year-old, he was faster over that final portion of the race than Art Power in a Group 3 sprint on the same card and, provided he can remain sound, looks the one to beat in all the top 10-furlong races, with the possibility that 12 furlongs may even see further improvement.

The Irish 2000 Guineas, also sponsored by Tattersalls, lacked the drama befitting a classic, the first three always up there and only changing positions late on. Perhaps the greatest moment of tension came after the stalls opened and Paddington dwelt, but Moore soon had him forward and he won well in the end though the emphasis was very much on speed and position, the finishing speed percentage for the race coming in at 111.5%.

Stamina

Paddington coped well with much faster ground than he’d raced on before and given the stamina in his pedigree, it is possible the steady pace was against him as much as anything, but if there was another to take from the race it would be the fifth, Galeron, whose final split was second fastest in the race and only marginally behind the winner. He did best of those held up and had to wait for his run two furlongs out and may well be back at the Curragh given he has run two of his best races there.

Moore was unable to get the Group 1 treble up over the weekend, his Meditate second in the 1000 Guineas but she was seen to good effect from the front, and he got the best out of her as he closed the gap significantly on Tahiyra from Newmarket.

That one may not have been at her very best on ground faster than ideal, but her rider Chris Hayes deserves his share of praise too, riding her forward from stall one which was not something that had been done on her previous three starts.

Hayes adapted to how the track was riding on the day and, while he needed to get the gaps late, it all worked out, the same of which could not be said about the third and fourth. Comhra took a massive leap forward to finish third at 150/1, the combination of faster ground and the cheekpieces likely helping, and things did not go her way either as she met trouble coming from behind.

Those comments apply, perhaps even more so, to the fourth Tarawa. Billy Lee had a chance to press forward on her early in the race but a move like that would likely have hampered her stablemate Tahiyra at that stage and Lee wisely decided to take back and be a team player, likely avoiding the wrath of Dermot Weld in the process!

It meant that she had a very difficult task on from rear, but she travelled notably well for much of the race and kept on late when finally getting racing room and looks well up to winning a lesser group race, for all that her headstrong tendencies need to be kept in check (got warm in the preliminaries).

Track these two at Ascot

ROYAL Ascot is no Cheltenham in terms of build-up, and that might be a big thing, but the focus understandably moves to the big June meeting at this stage and a couple of runners that shaped well in defeat at the Curragh are worth keeping in mind if heading that route.

It seemed that every time Noche Magica was mentioned in recent weeks, Paddy Twomey brought up Royal Ascot and the Coventry, but the trainer seemed to have changed his mind about that when interviewed on RTÉ Racing after Just Beautiful won on Sunday.

Twomey conceded that he was particularly disappointed to finish second in the Marble Hill with Noche Magica but at least he had learned that his colt was more of a five-furlong type and the Norfolk Stakes is now his aim.

Both the eye test and his breeding support this move. He powered through the Marble Hill, seeming to be going much the best at the furlong pole and hitting 1/8 in-running before getting outstayed, while he is related to very fast types like Dandy Man and Anthem Alexander.

The Norfolk will be no soft touch with Elite Status and American Rascal holding big chances, but he looks the pick of the Irish at this point.

Jumbly was runner-up in to the previously mentioned Just Beautiful in the Lanwades Stud Stakes but shaped particularly well, doing best of those held up on a pace-favouring track and not given a hard time late.

She was having her first start for Joseph O’Brien against race-fit rivals, the trainer having said in an early season stable tour that she might need her first start back with the Duke of Cambridge her big aim, and she has the hold-up run style of one that should be suited by the straight mile at Ascot, a track she has previously won at.

ANOTHER horse that looks Ascot-bound is Little Big Bear and he got back on track in the Sandy Lane on Saturday last. He currently trades no bigger than 15/8 for the Commonwealth Cup though that price seems more down to his juvenile form when a brilliant winner of the Phoenix than what he achieved at Haydock.

That win was a decent bounce-back effort from his 2000 Guineas flop but it came on a straight track that was heavily biased over both the Friday and Saturday cards.

Little Big Bear was drawn seven of seven and raced hard against the near rail, leading home another that raced with him as there were eight lengths back to the third, the other Irish-trained runner in the race Matilda Picotte shaping better than her fourth as she came up the centre of the track.

The following Temple Stakes confirmed that the near side was favoured, the first four home all racing there with nothing elsewhere counting.

A lesser concern is the somewhat unusual way that Little Big Bear races. Since his first start and throughout his career, he has carried his tail quite upright, and even gave it a flash early in the 2000 Guineas, something spotted by Emmet McNamara on RTÉ, who possesses excellent race-reading skills to go with his excellent hair.

That sort of tail carriage is rarely a positive across the horse population though with Little Big Bear it might just be a trait, Aidan O’Brien commenting after his win that he races ‘with his tail up and head out, like a deer.’ I have never heard a comparison like it, at least not in a complimentary sense, but handsome is what handsome does.