Older Horses
Works of Art
There is much to look forward to among the older horses returning to race next year (ages as of 2024)
Photos: Peter Mooney & Healy Racing • Words: Rory Delargy
AUGUSTE RODIN 129
4 br c Deep Impact - Rhododendron (Galileo)
It’s to be hoped that Auguste Rodin will be aimed at the Breeders’ Cup Classic as a four-year-old, as Aidan O’Brien was at pains to point out how well he worked on dirt in California and is clearly trying to open the door for that possibility. MV Magnier, in accepting the trophy for his Breeders’ Cup Turf success, certainly didn’t attempt to close that door for the son of Deep Impact and it is a massive boost for racing to have this magnificent colt on the scene next year.
Auguste Rodin had his off days, with poor efforts in the 2000 Guineas and the King George, but some intensive work at home and a switch to a cross-noseband seems to have done the trick, and wins in the Derby, Irish Derby and Irish Champion Stakes prior to that thrilling win at Santa Anita make for a special CV for a horse who is as stunning in the flesh as he is on the page. He is an enormously valuable stallion prospect but the Breeders’ Cup Classic is the race that the “lads” would love to win above any other.
Aidan O’Brien
BIG ROCK 129
4 br c Rock of Gibraltar – Hardiyna (Sea The Stars)
Leopoldo Fernández Pujals doesn’t do things by halves, and is determined to make the same impact in racing as he has in business despite first dipping his toe into the thoroughbred market as recently as 2019. In 2023, Big Rock and Blue Rose Cen carried the blue and white livery of his Yeguada Centurion company with great credit, and Big Rock’s six-length win in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot in October was arguably the performance of the season, although the soft ground at Ascot makes that claim a contentious one.
Big Rock showed that he is a top-class performer on a sound surface when second in a trio of Group 1 races in the summer but was a revelation on testing ground as he made all the running at a strong pace to win by a wide margin. He had beaten Horizon Dore by five lengths in the Group 3 Prix de Guiche on his previous try on such a surface and will always be hard to catch when the mud is flying. He didn’t stay the extended ten furlongs in the Prix du Jockey Club when beating all bar Ace Impact, but 1m1f is within his range as he showed in the Guiche.
Christopher Head
KYPRIOS 128
6 ch c Galileo – Polished Gem (Danehill)
Kyprios had a sensational season where he won all six of his starts from 1m6f to 2m4f in 2022, but injury kept him sidelined until the autumn last term, and he failed to win in two starts, albeit looking sure to collect for a long way in the British Champions Long Distance Cup when worried out of it by Trawlerman.
Kyprios is inclined to doss in front as demonstrated by his walkabout in the Cadran as a four-year-old and he probably made a big move too early in Ascot, with Trawlerman able to get a breather before rallying as Kyprios leaned to the rail. He almost certainly retains all his ability with his season merely rushed due to an injury-affected preparation, and he should be a huge player in all the big staying contests again in 2024.
Aidan O’Brien
CONTINUOUS (Jpn) 125
4 b c Hearts Cry – Fluff (Galileo)
Continuous improved markedly in the second half of the season and was impressive in winning the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes at York in August and the St Leger at Doncaster before a highly creditable three-and-a-quarter-length fifth of 15 to Ace Impact in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. He has the profile of a horse that will keep progressing, though a planned trip to Japan had to be aborted due to stiffness.
He may still go to Hong Kong in December and/or the Dubai Carnival, with the Sheema Classic at Meydan a race that would suit him ideally, and the plan for top-class middle-distance performers is a familiar one, with the Coronation Cup and King George the big mid-season targets.
Aidan O’Brien
INSPIRAL (GB) 125
5 b m Frankel – Starscope (Selkirk)
Inspiral’s last-gasp triumph over Warm Heart in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf was one of the highlights of the season, with Frankie Dettori refusing to panic when well back on the home turn. Dettori was coolness personified, but his confidence was down to his belief in a filly of outstanding ability, and it’s a boost to the season ahead that she’s to be kept in training as a five-year-old.
Best known as a brilliant miler, she was stretching out to ten furlongs for the first time in California, and while that opens up new options, I’d expect her to race over the shorter trip in Europe, with the nature of the Santa Anita track allowing her to be fully effective over the longer trip. I doubt she would be as effective over ten furlongs in a race like the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot or York’s International, but another bid for the Filly & Mare Turf at the Breeders’ Cup would obviously make sense.
John & Thady Gosden
INSPIRAL (HR)
KING OF STEEL (USA) 125
4 g c Wootton Basset – Eldacar (Verglas)
King Of Steel was beaten on four of his six starts as a three-year-old but there remains a feeling that the son of Wootton Bassett could be really exceptional. To finish second in the Derby to Auguste Rodin on his seasonal reappearance was a remarkable effort, and he followed that with a comfortable win in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot. He seemed to find the stiff mile and a half in the King George stretching his stamina back at Group 1 level and then did his running too late in the Irish Champion behind his Epsom nemesis. The Champion Stakes saw him redeem his reputation with a gutsy success, but that was a tough race to endure, and a trip to California for the Breeders’ Cup Turf was a race too far.
It would be a surprise if a horse of his size and scope didn’t do even better at four. He stays a mile and a half, and is fully effective over ten furlongs, while he’s won on both good to firm and very soft ground, and I’d expect the International at York with its long straight to be the race in which he could show himself at his very best.
Roger Varian
YLANG YLANG (GB) 111p
b f Frankel – Shambolic (Shamardal)
Ylang Ylang’s best two performances came on soft ground, the second in taking a strong renewal of the Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket in October. Winner of her first two starts including the Silver Flash on soft, she had run well below her best in both the Moyglare and Rockfel but relished the step-up to a mile at Newmarket, coming off a strong pace to win going away in the closing stages, despite having been hampered inside the final furlong. A 1.5m guineas yearling, the daughter of Frankel is out of a listed-placed half-sister to the 1m4f Hong Kong Group 1 winner Viva Pataca among others and looks sure to be at her best over middle distances in 2024. She will, no doubt, head for the 1000 Guineas, but looks primarily an Oaks prospect.
Aidan O’Brien
COURAGE MON AMI (GB) 124
5 b g Frankel – Crimson Ribbon (Lemon Drop Kid)
Wathnan Racing, aka the Emir of Qatar, will be another major player in British racing having made an initial splash at Royal Ascot with two winners from just three runners, all of whom were bought within weeks of the big meeting. The biggest impact was made by Courage Mon Ami, who graduated from handicap company to win an admittedly weakened Gold Cup, for all that might be harsh on runner-up Coltrane. He looked to have the world at his feet at that stage. In retrospect, he was hardly disgraced in two subsequent starts, finding soft ground against him in the Goodwood Cup before posting a strong-finishing second to Coltrane in the Lonsdale Cup at York, where he found a fast-run two miles an inadequate test.
Courage Mon Ami is at his best with a thorough test of stamina but also seems in need of a sound surface. He’s likely to get ideal conditions as he bids for back-to-back wins in the Gold Cup and should be viewed as a leading contender, but his chances in the other big staying events may rely on getting a strong pace and/or the autumn weather being kinder.
John & Thady Gosden
HORIZON DORE (Fr) 123
4 b g Dabirsim – Sweet Alabama (Enrique)
The gelded Horizon Dore improved with almost every start in his second season, and he was successful at pattern level in the Prix Eugene Adam at Saint-Cloud, Prix du Prince d'Orange at Longchamp and the Prix Dollar at the latter track. Those wins all came at around ten furlongs on good or faster ground but he ran well on a softer surface when third to King Of Steel in the Champion Stakes at Ascot, albeit finding less than looked likely when making smooth progress to challenge.
It may be that a sound surface is important to Horizon Dore and he should pay his way in the summer at ten furlongs. It would be no shock to see him gain a first Group 1 with the balance of his form suggesting he’s well up to the top level. A big, imposing type, he has probably yet to reach his physical peak.
Patrice Cottier
ROGUE LIGHTNING 119
4 b g Kodiac – Field of Stars (Acclamation)
Rogue Lightning has yet to score in pattern company but after landing a hat-trick in lesser company in late summer/autumn, he looked most unlucky not to take a big hand in the finish of the Prix de l’Abbaye, meeting trouble at a crucial stage but still beaten just over a length by Highfield Princess. Sold for £1m at the Qipco Champions Day Sale, he will remain in training with Tom Clover but will race next year in the colours of Wathnan Racing.
The son of Kodiac is learning all the time as a sprinter and while inclined to be a little too free in his early starts, he is sure to learn to settle with experience and will be a more potent force when connections are able to dispense with the hood he wore as a three-year-old. He’s been tried at six furlongs but looks best at the minimum trip and the King’s Stand will surely be on his agenda.
Tom Clover
BLUE ROSE CEN (HR)
BLUE ROSE CEN 118
4 b f Churchill – Queen Blossom (Jeremy)
Four Group 1 wins, including the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and Prix de Diane, is an impressive haul and it’s a pleasant surprise to see a filly with this profile persevered with. Blue Rose Cen failed to stay in the Prix Vermeille at Longchamp in September but bounced back to take the Prix de l'Opera at the same venue the following month, keeping on well to win by a neck from Jackie Oh.
Blue Rose Cen is likely to be kept at up to ten furlongs, with the Prix d’Ispahan over an extended 1m1f a logical first step, as Head’s father Freddy won the race with Goldikova (twice) and Solow, although the race would also suit Big Rock, and their trainer will want to keep them apart. She lacks the scope of Big Rock but is equally effective on soft and good to firm turf. She was beaten on her only outing in Britain when regular rider Aurelien Lemaitre had a nightmare trip in the Nassau Stakes and it would be no surprise to see connections come to Goodwood once more in a bid to right that wrong.
Christopher Head
*Ratings reproduced by kind permission of Timeform