GIII Slowness Stakes

Welcome to Longchamp races on this blustery Saturday afternoon. We are here primarily to see the outcome of the very well contested group 3 Slowness Stakes over a mile and one eighth on the firm turf course at the headquarters of French racing. Although only six go to post, they have between then won over 3 million sim dollars so I don’t think anyone will doubt the quality.

In stall one, Equestrian Order could well have swept these aside a few years ago. Jackplummer’s six year old son of Cahill road managed to win the group 1 Sydney Derby as a three year old and has amassed 6 stakes wins during a great career which reads 10 wins from 40 starts. He amassed over $1,000,000 dollars from those runs and certainly owes his trainer nothing. Always game and honest, the question is really whether wear and tear might be starting to take their toll on the old boy with his last two runs in group three company resulting in defeats by over 20 lengths. However if one looks back to his seasonal bow last year, he posted a very respectable 107 sp over 10.5 furlongs and a reproduction of that would take him close. P Payne is likely to want a lead and the horse always seemed to do his best running when weaving his way through big fields in the past, but all in all, the super old horse deserves his chance here, even if odds of 6/1 probably do represent his chance against these.

On his right is the outsider of the field, Over the Top. Sheiky has a nice horse here, a big imposing son of Giant’s Causeway who looks like he will run and run over these type of turf trips. Whether he is up to the class of these remains a little less obvious, and although he has won a couple of ungraded stakes races among his 6 wins, the steps up into group company have resulted in heavy beatings. Having said that, the horse has always looked like the sort to improve with age, and now he has turned five, it’s just possible that his best years are still before him. S Graf will likely try to sit just off the pace and let his mounts impressive stride try to grind his rivals down, and while he doesn’t quite look good enough here, the horse doesn’t know that he’s 19/1 and will certainly give his all for the cause.

The favourite is housed in stall 3 and certainly looks to have a lot going for him. Sherwood’s Redsadsky is a beautifully bred four year old colt by Red Ransom out of a Saddlers Wells mare. He has only run 11 times thus far, and has ended up in the winner’s enclosure on six of those occasions. In fact the only time he has finished out of the money in those runs was in the Equinics two back which was his seasonal bow and as tough a race to win as any in the calendar. B Wu has the leg up on the 8/5 chance and must be delighted to be in the plate on a dual group 1 winner in prime form. Another relentless galloper, expect a position close to the pace and a strong finish that will probably result in another fast time, which he always seems to post.

Lonesome River from stall 4 looks to be the likely pace setter and Oxymoron3’s four year old Dehere colt has a chance of keeping that position for the duration. Most of this striking horse’s 6 wins have come in allowance races, but this year he’s showed that the step up to stakes, and indeed group class holds no terrors. Last time out he won a stakes race over 9f by 2 lengths with a very respectable 102 speed and four back posted an eye catching 111 sp on his seasonal bow in the E Grade challenge stakes splitting Manifest Destiny and Xtremely a Fan in the process. J Ventura will try to control the pace of the race from the front and if he can manage to steal a jump on the rest coming off the bend, then 3/1 could be value to upset the favourite.

Jump or Pushed is next in stall 5. Bexley’s five year old son of Kingmambo has won 9 times from his 34 lifetime starts and comes here in good form this year, having won two and finished in the photo in his other two allowance races. So far the step up to stakes class has always eluded the horse with the best effort being a second as a three year old, and while this raises a question, there is no doubt that this is a talented horse and today could be his turn. Jockey H Winkler will probably want to track the pace on the 5/1 chance, and with only six opponents, this race could just be his chance to step up. Having said that, this reporter has seen easier 14 horse fields in which to break a stakes duck.

Samaniego(IRE) on the outside of the field is 5/2 second best with the rails bookies and could easily upset the favourite. Layeguada’s bold front running son of Theatrical(IRE) is certainly a classy individual counting 6 stakes including a group 2 among his nine lifetime wins. Last time out he went pillar to post in the group 3 Misfired Bogey stakes posting a 104 speed in the process and has always campaigned at the very top level. Another who is getting close to the magic million sim dollar mark, victory here would do no harm at all to a bank balance which has always kept him in the number one box in the yard. If B Mann can get him on the lead from the outside box and see off Lonesome river which is not an easy task, then there is every chance that every post could be a winning one.

All in all, one of the most strongly contested 6 runner fields you could wish for and Longchamp racegoers can consider themselves fortunate to see some very classy horses going head to head for the purse. I feel that the race could just be set up for Redsadsky in this instance as he has so few miles on the clock compared to the other principles. I’ll go for him to just nail Samaniego in the straight with Jump or pushed staying on for third. All in all a really exciting race is in prospect and hopefully the ‘Slowness’ stakes will prove to be a misnomer.