Jan Vermeer - no way St Nick will beat this fella

What did he beat - he's going to France anyway

Derby Winner.  Easily the best 3yo we've seen this year.

skinner

i hope they don't switch cape blanco for the french for punting reasons, but that could easily happen now.

O'Brien now got the top 4 in the market!

If St. Nick had run in the Dante instead of the Guineas we wouldn't be getting so carried away.

Thought he was goin to France

Would've thought he was already entitled to win like that on previous form.

Looks like he's trained on and is in good form.

jan is owned by Tabor who you would imagine will want a runner at Epsom

St Nick/cape blanco owned by magnier/Smith - so opportunity to run one of these in France

I suspect given stamina doubt Frencg 2000G would be most logical for Cape Blanco

Jan Vermeer will win if he runs @ Epsom

plenty of easy winners of that race have bombed at epsom

wouldnt be losing the plot after that

plat - agree ge beat trees but had g1 penalty which is never easy and has form in book from last year - he has trashed Midas Touch twice. he shows speed and could be anything

as the stable is not banging them in all over the place...and it was his 1st appearance...i'm quite taken by that performance.

laddies have pushed st Nic out to 2's and both CB and MT to 8's  - noticeably shortest on JV @5's ;)

i know, and can see where youre coming from but that race might be too close to the big one?

mike..i think i posted on the JV thread that he was always shortest with ladds & pp...they knew

Send it to France, it will make nice cannon fodder.

Johnny looked after him today?  got 2 weeks which should be fine? perhaps he will go to France but to me Epsom is where a horse like him should go.

Only 1 day between the 2 alternatives, so that is unlikely to be a major factor in the decision between Epsom & France.

12-1 with
pp
for
Derbi
Says it all

Try clicking on it

click on the 12's and i think you find it is actually 7's :)

1 show of 10 with the ok corals the rest shorter

ran the final furlong much slower than fame and glory, that didnt win at epsom either.

I was not impressed.  The run was ok but he obviously wasn't 100% fit.  I might be more impressed next time as I'm sure the race will bring him on.

No Sea the Stars this year don't necessarily have to be a great horse to win the Derby.

every year we are told that aiden o brien has an "iron grip" on the derby. but for the last two years we've heard this and his runners keep coming up short. its the old theory that if you run so many it means u dont have any. midas touch seems a nice horse but for me was far less impressive than fame and glory was in winning the same race last year, for that matter casual conquest the year before that.

st nicholas abbey is a pretty atrocious price for me given hes got it all to prove as a three year old and as pricewise pointed out, just didnt look like a very good horse in the guineas.

jan vermeer could be anything then again he could be nothing. basically we have very little evidence to go on with him.

cape blanco for me has much more solid credentials than the other three but i wouldnt be at all suprised if workforce turned around the form at epsom given the way he was running on at the finish and his lack of inexperience.

basically i'd be inclined to look away from the obrien lot with the possible exception of cape blanco

FFS MP - JV is a Grp1 winner at 2.  Just won a Gp3 on the bridle when not wound up/fit and giving them all 7lb.

Beaten MT out of sight twice and gave a good thumping to Emerald Commander and Rosanara.

When are you going to learn to read form?

Dont agree at all with W1seprice. St Nick looked like a horse who needed further in the Guineas and better ground. He didnt really have a race in that as he didnt have the gears to trouble the leaders at the trip. He travelled really well in that and still has untapped potential over further imo. However the price is poor but it is based on Ballydoyle knowing who is their best ... lets be honest they would have piled in by now if he wasnt.

An extremely weak Group3, run in a very poor time.

F&G has already run so comparin time when he had a pacemaker to set gallop compared to JVM who was being looked after for 2 weeks time is ridiculous imo.

Figgis - where do you rate this form with others?

Maybe, but that race today was little more than an exercise canter and proves nothing more than the horse can still gallop.

Ballydoyle rarely seem to know which is their best Derby horse. Stable jockey has been on the wrong one more often than not in the last 7 years.

Kev, I liked the win in France last year and think that form is potentially good enough for him to win a Derby if he makes typical progress. I don't think the race today proved anything though and I'm put off by the fact that he's only just made an appearance now in what is usually a poor Derby trial.

Massively impressive performance there today gents from Jan Vermeer and if his Group 1 win in France as a 2YO wasn’t evidence enough, its clear now that he has what it takes to be an absolute superstar. He’s a beautiful looking colt when you get up close to him and when you think of all the qualities the winner will need in Epsom in a couple of weeks time, this fellow has every single one of them.

bit like steinbeck ey soldier?[;)]

Hope all is well with you mate.

I thought he did superbly well yesterday young Steinbeck. Fourth on his seasonal debut was a fine effort against some very high quality colts and there's no doubt at all that he'll come on for the run. There's a big prize to be had this season with this fellow

for a big hoss he didnt half move silky smooth on that firm arse ground today. clearly one of the top 3yr olds.

Jan Vermeers Racing Post Topspeed of 117 in France. Roger De Bris:
19 May 10 21:53 
 
It's huge, right, and I reckon theyve even got it a bit low as well. The last of the 25-1 in the books went today. Hopefully he arrives at Epsom fighting fit, could be very exciting. Must be one day at a time with him, seeing as his price is so big.

So far so good.

Flyingbolt spoke a lot of sense in his post, plenty of ballydoyle 1st strings finished behind stablemates at Epsom

mythical prince Joined: 20 Sep 06
Replies: 683 23 May 10 18:08

every year we are told that aiden o brien has an "iron grip" on the derby. but for the last two years we've heard this and his runners keep coming up short.

Yeah spot on . All you hear about from April onwards re The derby is O'brien this O'brien that .The jockey bookings for his 16/`1 shots get more press coverage than the actual chances of contenders not trained  by him .There is just an assumption every year that O'Brien's best 3YO Colt is the best 3YO Colt .

You'd think he absolutely dominated the race year on year , but has not won it since 2002.

Basically you mugs should save your money for cheltenham 2011, forget this derby nonsense