FOLLOWING Bandari's summary demolition of his Lingfield Derby trial rivals on Saturday, trainer Mark Johnston is entitled to be perplexed about the entry system which leaves him without a definite runner in next month's Vodafone Derby.
In what is proving as confused a year as I can remember for positive Classic clues, Bandari and stablemate Simeon (winner of the Thresher Classic Trial at Sandown) will be absent from the Derby line-up because their connections are not prepared to foot the sum of £90,000 to supplement.
Remembering the way Bandari stretched 13 lengths clear of his field at Lingfield, this is bad news for his connections and also bad news for the sport itself, especially if you take the purist view that the three-year-old middle distance championship is supposed to be won by the best of its age group.
Aidan O'Brien trains the two favourites, in 2,000 Guineas runner-up Hawk Wing and High Chaparral, but there is a very serious doubt over the former's ability to get a mile and a half while the latter has not endured the same kind of test that either Sinndar or Galileo did before their Epsom triumphs.
Bandari would be a very solid third favourite in my book if he'd been given a Derby entry, ready to exploit those weaknesses in the Irish pair.
Johnston has the perfect tool in which to express his consternation through his weekly column in the Racing Post and we should not be guilty of knocking him for what is surely a wholly appropriate place to exercise his disdain.
Perhaps the Epsom chiefs might see fit to consider modifying a system which, by the enormity of the sums it demands for a late supplement, effectively rules out anyone but the elite rich.
This week the spotlight falls on to York, where the trials look just as bewildering as those already gone. Barry Hills enjoyed his usual winning time at Chester and that trend might continue with Solo Flight in the 4.00 on Tuesday and Calcutta in the 3.25 on Wednesday, though the best bet of the week is perhaps Saturday's Lingfield defector Nemo Fugat in the 2.25 on Tuesday.
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