BLANK DAY:It’s a blank day for racing in Ireland but Shamrock looks back at the weekend international action. So You Think was the best colt in the Arc yesterday but it was only good enough to get him fourth as the fillies filled the frame.

TIPPERARY: Stage a jumps card on Tuesday to get the show back on the road.


So You Think was the best colt in the Arc yesterday but it was only good enough to get him fourth as the fillies filled the frame.

Initial analysis from ratings experts say five length winner Danedream was ‘a little above average Arc winner’. That may prove in time to be unfair. She could hardly have been more impressive winning the race by five lengths in a course record time.

Sure she wasn’t prominent in the betting and cost only a mere €9,000 as a yearling but the race looked as competitive as ever – included last year’s winner and a potential superstar in the form of So You Think.

O’Brien said of So You Think’s effort in fourth: “I thought he ran very well. He was coming home very well and it was the first time he’d run over that trip for us.

“He’s a big cruiser and I think he would handle the dirt (Breeders’ Cup) no problem, but the boys will have to discuss it before we decide what to do next.”

So You Think’s jockey Seamie Heffernan said: “He had a very wide draw, so you had to make an early decision, and I wanted to make sure there was something left at the finish. I thought it was a good run.”

The O’Brien team hit the target with Cape Blanco who just held off the late challenge of Dean’s Kitten to win the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park on Saturday.

Jamie Spencer drove the Aidan O’Brien-trained horse to the front rounding the home turn and went almost two lengths up on Dean’s Kitten at the top of the straight.

That lead diminished throughout the closing stages as Ramon Dominguez inched closer aboard Michael Maker’s colt but he couldn’t quite get there as Cape Blanco grimly held on.

SHAMROCK’S BET:
NAP: RELENTLESS HARRY (4.30 Windsor) (Irish-bred runner who impressed on debut at Wolverhampton and comes from in-form stable of George Baker)