Jack Hobbs with William Buick aboard, left, was second to Golden Horn and Frankie Dettori at the Epsom Derby on June 6, 2015. Jack Hobbs will now likely try his luck in the Irish Derby next. Press Association
Jack Hobbs with William Buick aboard, left, was second to Golden Horn and Frankie Dettori at the Epsom Derby on June 6, 2015. Jack Hobbs will now likely try his luck in the Irish Derby next. Press Association
Jack Hobbs with William Buick aboard, left, was second to Golden Horn and Frankie Dettori at the Epsom Derby on June 6, 2015. Jack Hobbs will now likely try his luck in the Irish Derby next. Press Association
Jack Hobbs with William Buick aboard, left, was second to Golden Horn and Frankie Dettori at the Epsom Derby on June 6, 2015. Jack Hobbs will now likely try his luck in the Irish Derby next. Press Ass

Sport

Irish Derby plans for Jack Hobbs

Geoffrey Riddle

June 08, 2015

  • English
  • Arabic

NEWMARKET // Jack Hobbs will head to Ireland at the end of the month for what could well be a showdown with Coolmore’s Giovanni Canaletto at the Irish Derby.

Jack Hobbs illustrated at Epsom on Saturday that Godolphin conducted a shrewd piece of business by purchasing a half share in the colt in May after he had finished second to Golden Horn in the Dante Stakes in the third fastest time in the 236-year history of the race.

Sale price is everything and we are unlikely to ever know what he cost, but Jack Hobbs chased home Golden Horn in the Derby to underline his run at York last month was no fluke.

Following the Dante Stakes, trainer John Gosden was wary about sending Jack Hobbs to run over Epsom’s idiosyncratic camber, citing immaturity and the need to fill out his impressive frame.

On Saturday before the Derby even Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, was looking to the future, stating in the winners’ enclosure that Jack Hobbs was a horse that should improve.

The more conventional layout of the Curragh is sure to suit and, in time, it would be no surprise to see Jack Hobbs race in next year’s US$6 million (Dh22m) Dubai Sheema Classic in Dubai, where his sire Halling won four times from five starts in the mid 1990s.

“As we said when we bought into the partnership, it is all about the future,” Godolphin’s bloodstock adviser John Ferguson said.

“All that run has done is told us that the future is really exciting because the Dante form has held up so well.

“His pedigree makes him even more exciting because he can become a globetrotter. Jack Hobbs is going to get better and his physique suggests he will be a horse who just continues to improve – and you don’t need to improve much on that.”

Giovanni Canaletto was fourth at Epsom and will spearhead Aidan’ O’Brien’s assault on the Classic he was won a record 11 times.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid’s Zawraq will not be at the Curragh for the race, however, after it was revealed yesterday that he had sustained a crack to his off-fore canon bone, which could rule him out for the season.

Zawraq was scratched from the Derby on Thursday by trainer Dermot Weld after he returned to his stables lame after work last Tuesday.

His injury is set to rule him out for at least three months.

Angus Gold, racing manager to owner Sheikh Hamdan, the UAE finance minister, said: “He was re-X-rayed over the weekend and they found a crack in his off-fore cannon bone. He’s had two screws put in it.

“He’s going to need three months recuperation.

“I can’t tell you how long it will take for the bone to heal, but there will be nothing happening in the short term, obviously.”

Sheikh Juma bin Dalmook’s Storm The Stars, who was third at Epsom, will not be heading to Ireland and is likely to be aimed at the English St Leger in September, the final British Classic of the season.

“He’s been beaten by two horses that were quicker than him,” trainer William Haggas said.

“You’d have to say he could make up into a St Leger horse but it’s difficult to make decisions at this moment in time.”

sports@thenational.ae

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