Saturday of the Ebor Festival, and we will take in the other meetings alongside York. We start at the Curragh, because the opening maiden there is worth more of your time than most maidens are.
1:05 Curragh: a textbook education, and the 4th is the one to note
Monogram won it at 4/6 under Dylan Browne McMonagle, and the jockey certainly left it late.
He travelled beautifully throughout, and we suspect the yard knows exactly how smart he is. Two things told us that. He was perfectly happy to be dropped out last in a 16 runner field and stayed there for a good chunk of the race. And even once he was pulled out into the centre of the track, McMonagle never really got after him, just nudging him along and letting him find his own way into it. He got there very close to the line.
What that will do for the horse is worth far more than the winning margin. He now knows about passing horses, about travelling into a race, about being asked for an effort, and about putting his head down to get in front when it matters. If you sat down to write an educational debut, that is what you would write. It probably does not tell you a great deal about his true ability, but as a training run it could hardly have gone better, and we expect him to step forward markedly from it even though he won.
The one to take out of the race, though, is the 4th. Iveagh House, our Top Rated, was 13/2 under Wayne Lordan and looked badly in need of the run. That is a big price for an Aidan O'Brien newcomer, which tells its own story about what was expected.
He will improve a great deal for the experience, and we would be surprised if he did not reverse the form with Noble Exhibit, who beat him into 3rd, next time.
For a template, look at Beguiled. He was sent off 16/1 for John and Thady Gosden at Goodwood at the end of July and finished 3rd. He turned up at Newmarket yesterday and won at 1/3. We would not be at all surprised to see Iveagh House follow exactly that path: a big price today, then odds on in a maiden in a couple of weeks, and win it comfortably.
1:34 Newmarket: One For Bruce was stopped, and he is one to note
Great Balls O'Fire won this 6f novice at 6/4, backed in beforehand, for Richard Spencer and George Wood. We are not going to claim he would not have won anyway.
What we will say is that One For Bruce, our Top Rated, was just getting going under Robert Havlin when the race went wrong for him. Walkin On The Moon began to retreat in front of him, and rather than switching a length left or right and going past, Havlin allowed him to run up into the back of the retreating horse, appeared to panic, stopped riding, and then had to get going again once the race had moved on. He finished 3rd at 5/2.
With a clear run we think he would have gone very close. He is a newcomer, he will improve for the experience, and he will have learned plenty from it. He is worth adding to your NagMe, and he goes straight on our tracker.
1:50 Strensall Stakes: Geryon travelled too well, and Archivist was superb
Archivist won it at 9/1 from Saber Strike at 8/1, with Persica 3rd at 11/2. Our selection Geryon was 5th at 9/2.
Geryon travelled into the race beautifully. Too well, in fact, and then found absolutely nothing.
We have the same gripe here that we have had all week. When a horse is travelling that sweetly, let him go. Kick on, put a couple of lengths into them and see what happens. We think Gary Carroll got that wrong. He would not have won the race, but he might well have been 2nd or 3rd.
Worth noting too that Dylan Browne McMonagle stayed in Ireland to ride Monogram rather than come over for this one. On the day's evidence that worked out rather nicely for him.
On the horse, we will take the honest lesson. We wrote in the preview that the drop to a mile was our 1 real reservation, and that our own tracker note had asked for him next over a mile and a half or thereabouts. That is exactly how it played out: he was found out for a bit of toe. Back up to 1m2f we are sure they can find a race for him.
The performance of the race, though, was the winner's, and Archivist deserves proper credit. He has genuinely turned the corner. Formerly with William Haggas, he is now with Hamad Al Jehani, and the trainer has got him finding races again.
Remember that this is a horse who was sent off 5/1 for the Royal Hunt Cup, which tells you they thought they had a Group 1 or Group 2 performer running in a handicap. He finished 20th that day and it did not work out. Then he went to Goodwood at the end of July and bounced back, winning at 16/1. Now this, at 9/1, and he beat them out of sight.
If you were with him in the Hunt Cup, we hope you stayed with him for the last 2, because he has repaid it handsomely at big prices.
Naturally the question is what he beat at Goodwood. Cerulean Bay was 2nd there and has disappointed since, running on Thursday. The one we would look out for is Classic, who was 3rd and who we think is still just about on the right side of the handicapper.
For our money that was one of the most impressive performances of the week, and we would put it alongside Sun Goddess and Bacio.
2:09 Newmarket: Pilu does exactly what we said he would
Pilu won this Class 4 handicap over 6f at 4/1, dropping in class, and this one is worth spelling out.
We put him up at Goodwood, and he finished 8th at 6/1 without ever getting a yard of daylight, bumped and barged the whole way. In our Goodwood day 3 review we wrote that he was better than that, that he would win a similar handicap very soon as soon as he got a clear passage, and that we would happily be back on him next time.
That is precisely what has happened. The only part we did not see coming was the drop in class, which only made it easier. He was well supported, went forward, sat just off the leaders and battled all the way to the line.
We mention it not to take a bow but because it is the argument for reading the reviews at all. The most valuable note in a review is very often about a horse that did not win.