Juddmonte International Disaster: Daryz & Danon Decile Failures
- Connections of Gifts have not given up on his Arc chances despite watching him trail in last in Wednesday's Juddmonte International won by Ombudsman.
- Daryz and Japanese challenger Danon Decilewho finished fifth of sixth, added richly to the anticipation surrounding the race but neither could land a blow.
- Both camps felt the way the field had ignored pacemaker Birr Castle before the race developed into a scramble to make up a gifted lead of 25 lengths...
Connections of Gifts have not given up on his Arc chances despite watching him trail in last in Wednesday’s Juddmonte International won by Ombudsman.
Daryz and Japanese challenger Danon Decilewho finished fifth of sixth, added richly to the anticipation surrounding the race but neither could land a blow.
Both camps felt the way the field had ignored pacemaker Birr Castle before the race developed into a scramble to make up a gifted lead of 25 lengths played against them, with Danon Decile’s jockey Keita Tosaki admitting that plan A went out of the window almost from the off.
And the Aga Khan Studs’ racing manager Nemone Routh said her team felt frustrated not to have learned anything as Daryz lost his unbeaten record in what she described as “such a strange race”.
Tosaki revealed to the Japanese media that he and trainer Shogo Yasuda had planned to make the running aboard Danon Decile, whose two wins at Group level have come at a mile and a half.
Quoted in Netkeiba, the vastly experienced Tosaki said: “I walked the track with the trainer and we came up with a strategy, but it didn’t go as planned. I wanted to put the horse in front, but I couldn’t, so that was a loss.
Danon Decile’s jockey Keita Tosaki and trainer Shogo Yasuda (right) walk the course at York
Credit: Edward Whitaker
“I had heard that he was doing well and that his preparation had been good. However, he seemed a little excited from the warm-up, which I think was one of the reasons he wasn’t able to show his true potential.”
Daryz also showed some immaturity during the preliminaries, while he once again pulled in the face of what was, bar the runaway Birr Castle, a pedestrian early pace which turned into a sprint.
“It was such a strange race and we were a bit frustrated because we didn’t feel like we learned much from it,” said Routh. “We were quite pleased there was a pacemaker in there, but when the Japanese horse didn’t follow him, the little pack Daryz was in wasn’t going very fast.
“As the least-experienced horse he was a little bit immature and took a bit of a hold. I think it played against him. Take nothing away from the winner, he won very well.”
The sectionals bear out the analysis that, far from Birr Castle ensuring a strong and even gallop, the decision of the other five jockeys not to follow Rab Havlin meant that the race turned into a ‘sit and sprint’.
With half a mile to run, second-placed Danon Decile was more than three and a half seconds adrift of the pacemaker, and while Daryz was able to virtually match the winner Ombudsman when the pace lifted at the three-furlong pole, his run soon petered out.
Ombudsman wins the Juddmonte International from Delacroix and pacemaker Birr CastleCredit: Edward Whitaker
“He did put in a big turn of foot from the three to the two furlong pole and then really fell in a hole,” said Routh. “Was that because he was too stressed out early on?
“It was quite strange the way he didn’t finish his race off, but when you re-watch it, the ones that have run well are the ones that settled.”
Daryz had been no bigger than 14-1 for the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe before the International but can now be backed at 33-1. Routh feels that trainer Francis Graffard may need to get another run into the Sea The Stars colt beforehand if he is to take up the engagement on October 5.
“I’m not sure we’d go straight to the Arc after that run, he’d need to come back and put himself back in the picture,” said Routh. “So we either have to run him in the [Prix] Niel, which could come quickly after the travel [to York] or the Prince d’Orange, where we had planned to run Calandagan. So neither is ideal.”
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