Just Six Remain in Juddmonte International
- By A.J. Ryder on August 15, 2011 15:30 GMT
Only five other contenders are set to take on the current betting favourite for horse racing's de facto world championships. Await the Dawn is trading as the 6/1 favourite for the 2011 Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs and the big prep race before shipping over to America is this Wednesday's feature from the opening day at the York Ebor Festival.
The 2011 Juddmonte International is set to run 1m2f88y over ground that is expected to be good to soft. The lightly-raced Juddmonte-bred has won Group 3 and a Group 2 contest but is considered to be one of the most impressive runners globally for the classic distance. Those skills will be on full display in this first Group 1 contest.
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The four-year-old son of Giant's Causeway is listed as the odds-on favourite with a price of 5/6 and the chief competition looks to be coming from Juddmonte's Twice Over. The six-year-old son of Observatory is an international superstar and has ever claim to a potential victory here. Punters are backing him to the tune of 5/1 and he proved how much he likes York, having just scored at Group 2 level back in late July with Tom Queally, as always, in the irons.
The big factor for this one is that Queally has moved off of Twice Over and is opting for Midday. Twice Over's stablemate hasn't finished outside of the exacta in nearly a dozen races and boasts several scores at York over prestigious company. Ian Mongan gets the mount on Twice Over.
Midday can be backed at an 11/4 price tag.
Other contenders for this one include Windsor Palace, a six-year-old son of Danehill Dancer who hasn't won since 2007 (150/1, naturally). Zafisio is listed much more plausibly at a 66/1 price. It will probably take a bit for him to get back on track as he has only raced once since November of 2009. He notably scored the Group 1 Criterium at Saint-Cloud in 2008.
Roderic O'Connor lines up for this one and he'll be looking to get things back on track after two very forgettable results in his past two. He was sent off at 20/1 in the Group 1 Irish Derby and looks like he's hovering around 25/1 here.
Await The Dawn has probably hit bottom but look for some interesting swings with Twice Over and Midday in the next 48 hours.
