Let’s look at what went wrong on Saturday at Flat HQ.
As big as 9/4 on Saturday morning after being 6/4 during the week, you would think that the confidence from the betting public was dwindling, but as the day went on and the rain began to fall you could see the influx of support for Auguste Rodin beginning to gain momentum.
This was the first tick in the box for Auguste Rodin who won his Group 3 on soft ground and took his opposition apart on heavy ground in the Group 1 Vertem Futurity Trophy Stakes at Doncaster last October. So all in all, things were playing into the hands of the son of Deep Impact.
All was looking good for Aiden O’Brien to claim yet another English Classic, but as we know, horse racing has a funny habit of proving even the best wrong.
The horses loaded, the flag dropped, and off the went for the 2023 2000 Guineas. But, within a matter of strides, things began to unravel.
Bumping, bragging, and clipping heals were the name of the game for the first 2f of the 2000 Guineas, and just like his stablemate Little Big Bear (who got the worst of it), Auguste Rodin was not helped by what was going on around him.
If you were on the heavily backed favourite you were mildly happy up to the 3f poll, but things went south very fast as jockey Ryan Moore went to wake up Auguste Rodin and to his and many others’ amazement, there was no response.
You can say he was positioned badly in a slow run race, that he was lit up, but he was in a good position behind Little Big Bear and had cover, but nothing happened when Ryan said: “go”.
The eventual 3rd Royal Scotsman who never settled throughout the race went past him like he was standing still and from then on you knew your faith.
Was it too bad to be true, or is the 2yo impression that Auguste Rodin left on us enough to trust backing him in the Irish 2000 Guineas at the Curragh which will likely be his next target?
I for one would be happy to leave him run and not have a betting investment in him as to me he is most likely to be a short price.
Only time will tell if the next big thing will turn it around or if he is just one that will be added to the list of the dominating 2yos but has ultimately failed to progress at 3.
The One To Take Out
The one I was most taken with was the 3rd Royal Scotsman.
For a horse who never settled in at any stage of the 2000 Guineas where it favored horses on the front end, he still managed to get within 2 1/4L of the winner Chaldean.
Back on a more conventional track with a faster pace to aim at I would not be surprised if he was able to overturn the form with the winner and second.
He is currently 5/1 for the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot and if he ends up there, I have him as a massive treat to Chaldean.
