Dawn Approach looks to rebound in St James’s Palace

Dawn Approach reverts to a mile against Magician, Toronado and Mars in a fascinating renewal (Courtesy of Newmarket Racecourse via Twitter) The last time a colt contested the Epsom Derby and came back to win the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes was Marju in 1991, so the task in hand is not a straightforward one for Dawn Approach in Tuesday’s strong renewal. Blowing his perfect record to pieces with a reckless effort in the Derby 17 days ago, Godolphin’s number one hope for the Royal Ascot meeting will have to race with more conservatism despite the drop back to the trip over which he dominated the Two Thousand Guineas. “He’s in great form and I have no reason to think that he’s any less of a horse now than on Guineas day,” trainer Jim Bolger said. Bolger also saddles Ballycorus Stakes winner Leitir Mor, but said that colt is not in as a pacemaker. “He likes to race close to the pace, but I can’t say he will definitely be at the front,” Bolger added. Dawn Approach was initially not coming here after his blue riband meltdown and one of his biggest obstacles to a return to winning ways is another who has had a wobble on the way. Magician was under consideration for the Derby himself after his Irish Two Thousand Guineas win at The Curragh May 25 before being committed to this race instead, and might have been challenging for favoritism had he not suffered a knock in the lead-up. That seemed to pave the way for stablemate Mars to join in the game of musical horses as far as this race is concerned. Sixth in the Guineas and the Derby and particularly eye-catching in the latter race, he remains a fascinating prospect.

“Magician travels very strongly and keeps on going,” O’Brien said of
Magician. “He has a lot of speed and everybody saw at the Curragh how strong he
traveled. We think Mars could be in the mold of Rip Van Winkle — in his work,
his cruising speed was up around 40 miles per hour, which is very fast, so
there’s a chance he might be better coming back to a mile. His first run on
grass was in the Guineas and it was a very respectable run, so it was probably a
big task that we set him. We learnt a lot about him at Epsom and he’ll be ridden
handier over a mile. Racing will help him relax and mature.”

Toronado was rerouted to this event after he his disappointment in the
Newmarket classic led connections to skip a tilt at the Derby. The way he
disposed of the proven pattern-race performer Dundonnell in the Craven Stakes at
Newmarket April 18 sticks in the memory and trainer Richard Hannon is hoping for
a revival of fortunes fitted with a spoon bit.

“We know we did not see the real Toronado in the Guineas, but everything he
has done at home since he resumed exercise has convinced us that we still have
the real deal,” Hannon commented. “We believe that he suffered a displaced
palate as soon as he left the stalls at Newmarket, so he did remarkably well to
finish fourth. He was legless at the end and in another 100 yards would have
trailed in last. However, we have switched him from Everleigh to Herridge and
also changed his tack, and both seem to have had a positive effect. He is much
more relaxed and is breathing properly again, and, whereas we could have gone
for the tongue-tie, a lot of horses do not find that comfortable, so we went for
the spoon-bit, which we have used on several of our horses in the past and he
seems very happy in it.

“He worked super in his final gallop, and, while we don’t underestimate
either Dawn Approach or Magician, we are just focusing on ensuring that our
horse is back to his best and able to run to his full potential.”

Jockey Richard Hughes added, “I haven’t lost faith in him. We know he wasn’t
at his best in the Guineas, yet he was still there at the two-pole on the bit
and not many horses would have done that with the fractions they were doing.
Something went amiss and he wasn’t getting much air. He’s very talented, but he
has to prove himself now. I know what he is, but we have to get everyone else to
see how good he is.”

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