Champion the wonder horse - time for Pinatubo to take centre stage in Dewhurst

As one racing superstar moves off the stage, another could just be entering from the wings.

It is asking an awful lot to emulate a legend like Enable, a ten-time Group 1 winner who failed narrowly to land a historic third Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe last Sunday.

But if there is any Flat horse in training with the potential to fill the gap she leaves, to put bums on seats and generate that same sense of spinetingling excitement which can transcend the sport, it is Pinatubo.

In less than a minute and a half at the Curragh last month he went from promising two-year-old to potential wonderhorse.

The Godolphin colt put the champion into Champions Weekend as he burst clear in the last quarter-mile of the National Stakes and came home an astonishing nine-length winner.

That sort of margin has rarely been seen in a Group 1 race since Frankel and it is significant he achieved a higher Racing Post
Rating than that superstar ran to as a two-year-old, 128 compared to 126.

Which is not to suggest for one moment he is better than the brilliant colt who ended up rated the greatest horse of modern times.

But it is an extraordinarily encouraging sign and explains why he is now quoted as short as even-money favourite for the Qipco 2,000 Guineas, which is nearly seven months away.

Frankel was available at twice that price after winning the Royal Lodge Stakes nine autumns ago by a Pinatubo-style ten lengths, only to go odds-on when he followed up in the Darley Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket.

Fabulous Frankel odds-on for Guineas glory after Dewhurst

And the bookmakers are sure to follow suit if the current Classic favourite takes his unbeaten run to six in the same race here.

Which is no copper-bottomed certainty. For all that William Buick's mount was quoted at as short as 2-7 in the week, he is evidently thought beatable to Aidan O'Brien's mind.

Why else would the master of Ballydoyle, who had the second and third in the National Stakes and has landed the Dewhurst six times, fork out £40,000 to supplement hugely promising Tattersalls Stakes winner Wichita?

Nor is Clive Cox running scared of Pinatubo with Positive, who has won the Solario Stakes at Sandown since coming off five lengths second best when the pair clashed at Goodwood.

He or Wichita would be entirely feasible Dewhurst winners in an ordinary year. But events in Ireland last month suggest this is no ordinary year.

Saturday cards and betting

When Frankie met Lester

It will be just like old times at Newmarket, with Lester Piggott centre of attention on Dewhurst day.

He will be present in the flesh and in bronze, with a life-size statue to be unveiled in the parade ring at the start of an afternoon whose feature race he won no fewer than ten times.

That is a record even Frankie Dettori, who will be a VIP guest when the sculpture is revealed to the world before racing, may feel is beyond him – he has no ride this year in a race he won for the first time just last year on Too Darn Hot.

But Piggott's two Cesarewitch victories look more within reach and he could equal that haul by Saturday evening if the betting is any guide.

Dettori's mount Buildmeupbuttercup is red-hot favourite and topped the market even before the booking was revealed, having failed by just a neck to give a subsequent Group 3 winner weight at Leopardstown last month.

And being trained by Willie Mullins, who had a one-two in this last year, would not have put many punters off either.

Dream team: Mullins snaps up Dettori for Cesarewitch hotpot Buildmeupbuttercup

KEY STATISTIC: In the past three decades Sir Mark Prescott has had 27 runners in the Cesarewitch, including 11 who started at 12-1 or shorter, and all were beaten with just three placed. He runs the well fancied Land Of Oz on Saturday.

Lamp to shine?

The Oracles of North Yorkshire do not often issue forth their predictions so their words are well worth heeding when they do emerge.

Neither Peter Easterby nor his son Tim are men to shout about how good their horses are, the successive masters of Habton Grange have generally been happy to let them do their talking on the track.

So it was particularly striking that Easterby jnr should label Lampang "as good as we've trained for a long time" after the colt bolted up by five lengths at Ripon last month, defying a penalty for a victory achieved despite palpable greenness on his debut at Carlisle.

His exploits with Group 1 winners Bollin Eric, Fayr Jag and Somnus show he knows a good horse when he sees one and this King Power Racing-owned juvenile is worth looking out for on his step up to Listed company at York in the coral.co.uk Rockingham Stakes – which Easterby has won three times since 2012.

Hard to fight Tank at Chepstow

Here's one for 'Only Connect' fans. What links Cue Card, Elegant Escape, Finian's Oscar, Native River and Thistlecrack?

As Victoria Coren-Mitchell would no doubt tell you, they are all high-class chasers trained by Colin Tizzard who started their careers over fences at Chepstow.

Which indicates the yard's hopes for Reserve Tank, a dual Grade 1 winner over hurdles, who follows his stablemates by beginning his new job in the shadow of the Severn Bridge.

Tizzard turns to familiar launchpad for JLT favourite Reserve Tank's chase debut

He is already favourite for the JLT Novices' Chase at Cheltenham ahead of a Listed novice event that Cue Card and Finian's Oscar took in their time.

Perhaps we will see a festival winner and a Guineas winner in action within half an hour of each other on Saturday afternoon.

Armchair guide

2.20 Newmarket
Godolphin Flying Start Zetland Stakes 1m2f
Mythical bids to complete Aidan O'Brien's hat-trick in this Group 3 after the successes of Norway and Kew Gardens but has to beat Miss Yoda, whose trainer John Gosden won the race with another filly Coronet three years ago.

2.40 York
coral.co.uk Rockingham Stakes 6f
Despite three wins in the Cesarewitch in the last six years, Silvestre de Sousa goes to York for his King Power retainer for three rides starting with impressive Ripon winner Lampang, who bids to give trainer Tim Easterby his fourth win in this Listed race in the last eight years.

2.55 Newmarket
Dubai Autumn Stakes 1m
Godolphin have been responsible for the last three winners of this Group 3 and have two good chances with Al Suhail and Military March.

3.15 York
Smart Money's On Coral Handicap 1m2½f
Newmarket trainers have won four of the last six runnings and this year's only representative is the John Gosden-trained Harrovian.

3.30 Newmarket
Darley Dewhurst Stakes 7f
Pinatubo has repulsed the Ballydoyle brigade so far but Aidan O’Brien likes this two-year-old feature, having won half of the last ten runnings. He supplemented recent Tattersalls Stakes winner Wichita to take his team to four.

3.50 York
Coral Sprint Trophy Handicap 6f
Last week's Abbaye-winning trainer Kevin Ryan has another sprint in his sights as the Hambleton trainer bids to win this valuable handicap for the third consecutive year. Hey Jonesy is trying to emulate Major Jumbo and Teruntum Star, who were double-figure prices like this year's stable contender.

4.10 Newmarket
Emirates Cesarewitch Stakes 2m2f
Willie Mullins sent seven runners last year to come away with a 1-2 but settles on just three this year, including favourite Buildmeupbuttercup, who was dealt a wide draw in 21 but is ridden by Frankie Dettori, who overcame the outside stall of 33 runners to win on Never Can Tell eight years ago.

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