Michelangelo shines in debut defeat

8th May, 2012 - Posted by Elliot Slater - Comments Off

If there is one horse to take out of the whole high-class two-day Guineas Festival meeting at Newmarket last meeting and stick with as one to follow for the rest of the season, it is probably the John Gosden-trained Michelangelo who made a very eyecatching debut when finishing a close third to Investec Derby hope Noble Mission in the listed Qatar Racing Newmarket Stakes, writes Elliot Slater.

A beautifully bred colt, being by Galileo out of Intrigued (by Darshaan), a mare who finished a close fourth in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac as a juvenile in 2004, Michelangelo cost owner Benny Neilsen a hefty 550,000 guineas as a yearling at the Tattersalls Sales in October 2010 but looked as though he might prove capable of living up to that chunky price tag after being thrown in at the deep end on his racecourse bow at HQ but running a tremendous race that has racing betting tips writers suggesting he could well have a very big future.

Given a fine ride by William Buick, Michelangelo chased the front-running Wood Ditton Stakes winner Mariner’s Cross and travelled strongly in his slipstream before going off in pursuit of the Godolphin horse and the favourite Noble Mission who burst through to take it up at the furlong pole. Keeping on strongly without being knocked about on the first run of his life, he ran on well up the hill to finish a three-quarters-of-a-length third to Frankel’s full-brother, and to many observers came out of the contest as more than likely the best long-term prospect in the race.

Entered in the Investec Derby and now on offer at best racing odds of 33/1, Michelangelo will surely have derived great benefit from his Newmarket experience and looks one to keep very much on the right side wherever he turns up next, with something like the Lingfield Derby Trial appealing as a likely next step before considering a crack at the blue riband event.