I certainly think that Santiago is too short at the moment. Which countries will be back in lockdown by Sept 12? If France is then could Love run in the Leger? If Ireland is might the O'Brien horses all miss the race? Pyledriver is a value bet if you know that Santiago is your main danger but what about Serpentine, Tiger Moth and Delphi? Coolmore might well fancy turning another of their 3yos into a Classic winner.

Love will not run here as Coolmore will never run their top filly against their Epsom/Irish Derby winner; Arc as no principal colt contender

English King is unlikely either (I believe) given the outstanding performance of Pyledriver in the Voltigeur.

Serpentine - Grand Prix de Paris (13th Sept) bound; French jockey if necessary (if Covid intervenes); 1m 6f possibly too far too.
Tiger Moth - possibly; more likely Irish St Leger if market is anything to go by; trip unknown.
Mogul - annihilated by Pyledriver; trip likely to be too far; no hope of reversing form with Pyledriver, assuming both stay just as well.
Delphi - needs to improve loads; just held on last time; rated only 109.

Pyledriver or Santiago. The former gave weight and a drubbing to Berkshire Rocco (2nd to Santiago). If on song only the trip can beat him. If trained by Gosden or Stoute he'd be 7/4 fav, I firmly believe.

I do not think your scenario will materialise as it did not stop Coolmore sending their charges for the 1st two Classics; worst case scenario a quarantine which will necessitate the employment of local jockeys.

I think the top two in the market are reflected by what they've achieved so far eg Santiago (Irish Derby/Queen's Vase); Pyledriver (Edward VII Stakes/Voltigeur). The others need to improve to feature prominently in the race.

i thought that pyledriver said something silly after the york win, " that he might have too much speed for the leger the way he won the york race, but he didnt look like stopping there did he, ",    my re that comment was , oh so sharp , commanche run , nijinsky these horses were 8 furlong. 10 furlong winners , i wouldnt think that winning over 12 furlongs should worry you too much william about him having too much speed

2 superb bets for the next few weeks , imo the around 9/2 pyledriver e/w and the same around 4s  on enable ew , a cracking ew singles and double ,    actually a magnificent e/w double

I'd fancy the place double, but both to win will be difficult if the main protagonists turn up. A 6 year old mare has never won the Arc and it would truly be an amazing achievement if she manages it. Pretty good odds though!

I backed Mohican Heights (Bet 365: 25/1 ew) for the Leger after its run in the King Edward when it ran on late on for 3rd.  I have what can only be described as an idiot's knowledge of breeding but I'm assuming he should stay.  Atzeni on board at Doncaster would be a plus for me.  Like many others, Derby run can possibly be excused and RP states that he stumbled at the start and maybe, maybe he didn't like the track as well as ATR said he 'struggled (in the) straight', who knows?  Not heard anything about him since though?  Still entered but....anyone know anything please?  Cheers in advance.

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Mohican Heights was entered for the March Stakes at Goodwood on Saturday at the six day stage. Obviously he has n't been declared. An optimistic take might be that his trainer does n't want him to have a hard race on relatively testing ground with the Leger only two weeks away but that's supposition on my part.

Not sure it helps much except that you know he's still alive and kicking...

Moore is already in quarantine for the Irish Champions Weekend thus unlikely to be riding Santiago at Doncaster.

I wouldn't take the fact that RM is heading for Ireland for champions weekend as a negative. AOB has a wealth of talent entered for the Group races at Leopardstown and the Curragh, including next year's 2000gns and Derby fav, Battleground. All of that vs the Leger is a no brainer!

would imagine frankie would get the call to ride santiago.

One of Buick or Doyle is going to ride Pinatubo at Longchamp on Sunday so under the current quarantine rules whichever one does won't be available to ride in the Leger - on the other hand Buick might yet end up in Ireland to ride Ghaiyyath in the Champion Stakes and Master Of The Seas in the National Stakes if the quarantine rules for Irish Champions weekend change in terms of elite sport dispensation.

As a point of interest Hukum is rated only 1lb shy of Santiago on the BHA scale and achieved the same RPR in winning the Geoffrey Freer as Santiago did in winning the Irish Derby. I'm not one to take the ratings as gospel but I do think there will be (understandable) question marks about Hukum due to his unconventional route to the race - he would almost certainly have run in the Derby had he not been struck into when winning at Royal Ascot although given the way the Derby panned out it's debatable whether we would have learned much more about him there.

Anyway, I am likely to back him on the day when I think he may well be a bigger price than he is now - I doubt Coolmore think Santiago is a good thing so I think it's likely they'll be mobhanded on the day - I know there are a lot of other good races that weekend but equally they have plenty of 3yo colts with potentially the right profile.

Ominous.

Why is Hukum so short? At present prices I'd have Santiago over him any time of the day, all things being equal of course. Pyledriver is the rightful fav and no doubt much shorter if stamina is proven.

I think the drift of Santiago is mainly Moore induced otherwise I'd expect to see a bit of interest for Tiger Moth; Dawn Patrol is very unlikely to be good enough; Serpentine is also friendless similarly, Passion.

I'm after a bit for Santiago at 6 or more.

While O’Brien and Dettori will be in opposition in the Arc, they are set to team up at the Doncaster St Leger meeting next week, with the Ballydoyle trainer set to call on British-based jockeys there.

Irish Derby hero Santiago is one of the intended O’Brien runners for the Pertemps-sponsored Leger on Town Moor.

O’Brien said: “We have spoken to Frankie, and he’s going to be there for the Leger – which is great for us – so hopefully he will ride some of ours.

“We haven’t really discussed it, but I’d imagine that (using British-based riders) is what will happen because we’ll probably have a lot of runners here (for Longines Irish Champions Weekend) and we’ll need the lads here. The problem is if the lads go there they can’t do anything for the next two weeks after it.

“I’d imagine we’ll probably need them at home for that weekend, and we have Frankie and William (Buick), James (Doyle), Adam (Kirby) and Oisin (Murphy) – they’ve all ridden for us, and we’re delighted they’ve agreed to do that whenever we have needed them. I think we’ll be OK that way.”

Of Santiago, last seen finishing third to Stradivarius in the Goodwood Cup, he said: “Everything has gone well since Goodwood. It didn’t really work as we’d have liked – but it didn’t do him any harm, and he seems to be in good form.

“He’ll have a busy week this week, and that will tell us a lot.”

Dettori is the most likely pilot on Santiago unless a last minute swap courtesy of his friendship with the owner of English King and (Stradivarius). Whatever...it's only a fairly innocuous horse race after all.

Significant amount of support the last few days for Galileo Chrome. I would have thought the Irish Leger would be his favoured destination on the Sunday, but the exchanges speaking volumes ...

Just had a tenner EW on the Sportsbook at 16 (odds boosted 1 pt). Not very often you get value there!

G Crome tipped up by
Tom in the weekender