After withdrawing from the King George due to soft ground, Golden Horn’s next likely assignment is to follow in the hoofsteps of Derby/Eclipse winner Sea The Stars in York’s Juddmonte International Stakes. Officially the highest rated race in the world thanks to recent winners including Frankel and dual-Derby winner Australia, it’s attracted a stellar list of entires and a fascinating ante-post market. With no certainty of good ground and a best price of 8/13 against such strong opposition, that stinks.
The horse I was most looking forwards to taking an early price on was Roger Varian’s Intilaaq, who recently bounced back from a disappointing run in the 2000 Guineas to land his second win of the season at Newbury over the Juddmonte International’s trip of 10f. On his seasonal debut, he shot to prominence with a stunning time over a mile but the Guineas looked to have come too soon and freshness now looks the key factor. With a month between assignments and the Newbury win proving he stays, his participation is looking highly likely. I was hoping for a lot more than the 12/1 quote however and there’s no value in punting early. If he drifts to 16s or more, it’s worth taking.
Instead, I like the chances of Sir Michael Stoute’s very-lightly raced Convey, who made his long-awaited return to the racetrack at Goodwood yesterday. Travelling very greenly and never settling at the back of the field, he showed a classy turn of foot to nearly snatch a place. Clearly a horse with a lot of ability and open to any amount of improvement, I like the 40/1 on offer when you consider he would be the likely mount of Ryan Moore – should he return from injury in time. If that scenario did pan out I’d expect that price to collapse.
0.5Pts Ante-Post Win, Convey @40/1, Juddmonte International Stakes
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