York, England// The emphasis at York on Wednesday night will be on stamina, with Golden Horn’s clash with Gleneagles in the International Stakes showing all the hallmarks of a classic.
Both are unbeaten this year, but it is Golden Horn, the Derby winner who has excelled over middle distances, who is considered the most likely winner over Gleneagles, who in powering to two Guineas and a St James’s Palace Stakes has yet to prove his mettle over farther than 1,600 metres.
The Derby winner has not come up against the English 2,000 Guineas winner in this Group 1 event since 1992, but 23 years ago it was the miler Rodrigo de Triano who prevailed, and not the more stamina-laden Dr Devious.
Gleneagles is out to prove he can sustain his brilliant speed over 2,092 metres, an extended distance at a racecourse that has a finishing straight of nearly 1,000 metres.
The winning time of the International Stakes is frequently slower than the Eclipse Stakes, which is staged across the slightly shorter distance over which Golden Horn won in July on his last start.
It will be a punishing few extra seconds for Gleneagles, although his breeding suggests that Aidan O’Brien is right to pitch him in to the race the Irish trainer has won for the past two years and five times in all.
Gleneagles is by Galileo, who has sired nearly 50 Group 1 winners. Most of those have won over middle distances.
His full sister, Marvellous, was good enough to win the Irish 1,000 Guineas but failed to keep tabs on Taghrooda in last season’s English Oaks, in which she was sixth, and was subsequently eighth in the Irish equivalent also over 2,400 metres.
And then there is how the race might actually pan out. Joseph O’Brien has sweated down to do the weight on Gleneagles and will have to pit his wits against Frankie Dettori on Golden Horn.
In order to stretch Gleneagles, Anthony Oppenheimer, Golden Horn’s owner, has supplemented Dick Doughtywylie to act as pacemaker.
O’Brien senior is also running Cougar Mountain, which adds an extra dimension as to how the pace might play out, while Silvestre De Sousa could have a say aboard the front-running Arabian Queen.
As so often is the case with match-ups, the result might not adhere to the script.
If Gleneagles falters in the final stages of the race, then Time Test and The Grey Gatsby are lurking in the wings, ready to take advantage of any stamina limitations.
Time Test ran one of the fastest times ever over 2,000 metres at Royal Ascot in June, while The Grey Gatsby has shown that he is a Group 1 horse despite not winning in four starts at the highest level this season.
Prior to the feature race of the day is the Great Voltigeur Stakes over 2,400 metres, in which Al Asayl’s Balios and Jamie Spencer take on Sheikh Juma bin Dalmook’s Storm The Stars.
The Group 2 race is traditionally a prep for the English St Leger, and with O’Brien already so dominant among the entries for the final English Classic of the season, it is no surprise to see him represented by Irish Derby third Giovanni Canaletto, Royal Ascot winner Aloft and Grade 3 Curragh Cup winner Bondi Beach.
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