Derby winner Desert Crown heads Timeform's three-year-old ratings ahead of Irish Derby winner Westover who met trouble at Epsom.
DESERT CROWN (130p)
Desert Crown has made giant strides to head the three-year-old rankings after just three races, winning all of them.
He made an impressive debut in a back-end maiden at Nottingham last year which promised plenty for his three-year-old season and he has duly made above-average progress this term, starting with an emphatic success on his return in the Dante Stakes when beating the much more experienced Royal Patronage by three and a quarter lengths.
Sent off favourite for the Derby as a result, Desert Crown confirmed himself an exciting prospect at Epsom when impressing again, quickening clear and eased late on to beat outsider Hoo Ya Mal and Westover who met trouble in running.
Potentially one of the best Derby winners this century, Desert Crown looks sure to do even better, with entries in the King George and Juddmonte International in the coming months.
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WESTOVER (127)
Despite winning a maiden on his debut at Sandown, Westover still showed signs of inexperience in his other two starts last year, finding one too good in both the Haynes, Hanson & Clark Conditions Stakes at Newbury and a Listed race at Pontefract.
Looking the type to do better at three, he made a successful return in the Classic Trial at Sandown when a short-head winner from Cash but it’s over a mile and a half on his last couple of starts that the son of Frankel has really come into his own.
Odds of 25/1 in the Derby showed Westover needed to find plenty of improvement to trouble Desert Crown but he ran a fine in the circumstances after being badly hampered in the straight and getting boxed in soon afterwards before failing by just a head to get up for second place.
In contrast, the Irish Derby could hardly have gone any more smoothly for him, forging seven lengths clear of Derby also-ran Piz Badile by the line.
The St Leger looks an obvious target later on but a rematch with Desert Crown in the King George has the potential to be a closer contest than Epsom was.
COROEBUS (127)
Beaten only once in five starts, Coroebus remains the top miler of the three-year-old generation. It was only when tying up late on that he suffered a neck defeat to Royal Patronage in the Royal Lodge Stakes last year but a fortnight later he saw his race out much better back over the Rowley Mile with an impressive win in the Autumn Stakes.
Without a run beforehand, Coroebus faced his unbeaten stablemate Native Trail on his return in the 2000 Guineas but showed the necessary improvement to beat that rival by three quarters of a length with a turn of foot that proved the decisive factor.
Sent off odds on for the St James’s Palace Stakes, Coroebus duly followed up at Royal Ascot but didn’t repeat his Newmarket form in coming out best in a blanket finish by a head from Lusail. Coroebus enjoyed better luck than some in a messy race, notably Maljoom who stormed home to finish a close fourth.
Coroebus seems sure to give a good account in the Sussex Stakes, though beating top older miler Baaeed will be another matter.
INSPIRAL (125p)
Inspiral was the top two-year-old filly over a mile when unbeaten in four starts at two and, despite making a belated start to her three-year-old campaign after being slow to come to hand, an impressive return at Royal Ascot showed she’ll remain hard to beat against her own sex.
Having already beaten Prosperous Voyage in the May Hill Stakes at Doncaster, Inspiral signed off at two by beating the same rival in the Fillies’ Mile.
In Inspiral’s absence, that form looked all the stronger in the spring when the Fillies’ Mile third Cachet got the better of Prosperous Voyage in the 1000 Guineas and the same pair, as well as Discoveries and Tenebrism, who’d also been Group 1 winners at two, were among Inspiral’s rivals when she returned in the Coronation Stakes.
However, Inspiral settled matters with a fine turn of foot that left the rest trailing and quickened clear to beat the American filly Spendarella by four and three quarter lengths.
Inspiral holds a Falmouth Stakes entry, as does Homeless Songs (123p) who was herself an impressive winner of the Irish 1000 Guineas but missed Ascot because of the firmer ground.
VADENI (125p)
Vadeni, a winner on two of his three starts as a juvenile, was only fifth on his return in the Prix de Fontainebleau at Longchamp in April but he took a big step forward on that form to register a stylish two-and-a-half-length success in the Prix de Guiche at Chantilly, passing the post back on the bridle after readily asserting.
That set Vadeni up for a tilt at the Prix du Jockey Club and he produced another much-improved performance to run out a five-length winner, leaving El Bodegon and Modern Games, the two previous Group 1 winners in the field, to fight out the places.
Mishriff and St Mark's Basilica, the two previous winners of the Prix du Jockey Club, went on to show top-class form - which in Timeform terms means earning a rating in excess of 130 - and Vadeni has the potential to reach that level based on the huge impression he created in the Prix du Jockey Club. He will tackle Native Trail, another leading three-year-old, in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown on Saturday.
NATIVE TRAIL (125)
The winner of all four of his starts when the best of his generation at two, Native Trail is another who has trained on really well, much as his strapping physique had promised.
A clear-cut success from the top two-year-old in Ireland at the time, Point Lonsdale, in the National Stakes at the Curragh was the pick of Native Trail’s efforts last year, and he was well on top again when landing the odds in the Dewhurst Stakes.
A successful return in the Craven Stakes on a first try at a mile ensured Native Trail started a short price for the 2000 Guineas but he was unable to match the turn of foot of stablemate Coroebus in the closing stages and went down by three quarters of a length. However, the Irish 2000 Guineas provided Native Trail with a straightforward opportunity to return to winning ways.
With Coroebus remaining at a mile, Native Trail, who typically finds plenty at the business end of his races, is set to tackle a mile and a quarter for the first time in Saturday’s Coral-Eclipse.
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