DAILY RACING PREVIEW BY ANDY HOLDING
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 27
4.20 CURRAGH
Joseph O’Brien this season has trained the winner of The Oaks and The St Leger and nurtured James J Braddock to a creditable third-place finish in the Derby.
Moreover, the Owning Hill handler has no fewer than 11 entries in the Melbourne Cup to go along with the staggering 14 he sends to post for a renewal of a race he landed twice in the last three years.
In short, when it comes to training stayer’s, Joseph O’Brien has few peers and of his battalions he sends to post, SKY CAPTAIN has every chance of being the pick of the pile.
In the care of Paddy Twomey for his first four racecourse appearances, the son of Fracas was campaigned at distances between 1m4f and 1m6f and although he only landed one of those prizes, his performances in defeat were arguably more notable.
The pick of the quartet came when he finished runner-up to Kizlyar, now one of his stable mates, in a conditions race at Killarney and since that effort back in May, the form couldn’t have worked out any better.
Not only did the winner go on to glory at Royal Ascot and finish runner-up in a Group 2 on his latest start, the fourth, Defiantly, recorded a resounding success at Goodwood next time before going on to capture a Group 2 in Deauville.
Switched to join his new surroundings in the interim, the five-year-old was rather surprisingly asked to race over 1m2f in his preparation for this contest but despite finding the trip on the sharp side, he still ran a race full of promise.
Last of the 22-strong field throughout most of the contest, he was switched out wide in the home straight with a view to obtaining a respectable finishing position and with a powerful surge down the outside, he did just that, running on to claim sixth close home.
Based on that display, he is going to find a massive amount improvement stepping back up in trip and from the ideal starting point in stall 2, Joey Sheridan can hopefully put his mount in a position of strength before straightening up for home.
Of the rest, one of his old rivals from that Killarney race back in May, Tim Toe, should turn out to be one of the main dangers based on form and he has been saved specifically for this pot ever since finishing a solid third in the Ascot Stakes, where he received a brutal trip out wide.
SKY CAPTAIN – 2-points each-way@5-1 (six places)