Dee Ex Bee is the logical answer to Irish Derby question
However, my ancestry’s Irish and that’s where the principal racing action is this weekend so it was my focus (ok, part focus) while my body – as well as heart and soul – was flitting between Dubrovnik, the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro (which really is one of the world’s most spectacular sights and Korcula (whose name adorned the Tony Noonan trained city winner raced by yet another high profile Australian-Croatian Nevin Botica).
Dee Ex Bee will win the Irish Derby on Saturday was the conclusion I drew from said focus amid the ever so slight mist which descended on the bay and via some damn fine Montenegrin grown Cabernet Sauvignon.
Well, at least he’s the bet – Dee Ex Bee. The Mark Johnston trained son of Farhh who had the distinction of winning five of his ten starts and had the misfortune of running into Frankel, So You Think, Nathaniel and Moonlight Cloud on the five occasions he was beaten – albeit placed each time.
Dee Ex Bee finished three lengths clear of Saxon Warrior in the Epsom Derby and clearly stayed the better. Now you could argue that Saxon Warrior lost momentum when hampered in the straight but he literally wobbled home. He’s odds-on while Dee Ex Bee was as big as 4/1 when I last looked and that’s just wrong. It kind of means that you have to back him even if you’re not sure he’ll win – if you get that kind of Irish logic which is, indeed, fine punting logic.
To me it’s reminiscent of last year’s Pacific Classic in the States when Collected won at 3/1 beating Arrogate at 4/7. Arrogate had been beaten 15.5 lengths behind Accelerate at his previous start while Collected had beaten that horse by virtually the same margin at his previous run. Sometimes reputations have markets askew.
Saxon Warrior is, of course, prepared by Aidan O’Brien who has won seven of the past ten Irish Derbies which I’m conveniently ignoring. I’d rather focus on the Ballydoyle supremo’s record in the Celebration Stakes. Six of the past ten winners of this race have been three-year-olds including four trained by O’Brien.
This year’s older horses look either out of form or too harshly handicapped and either of O’Brien’s nominated three-year-olds could well have their measure. The first is the intriguing St Patrick’s Day who hasn’t raced since winning a Del Mar Maiden, last September, when trained by Bob Baffert. He beat Instilled Regard who did run fourth to Justify in the Kentucky Derby.
I’ll be banking on one of the two to further top up the travel fund and, by the way, I’m backing up on Merchant Navy in the July Cup. At the time of writing, it was not confirmed that he’d run but, at 6 or 7/1, I’m happy to take the odds to it. O’Brien did back up Starspangledbanner to win at Newmarket after Ascot in 2010.
My Balkan adventures have continued apace. I’ve found a multitude of betting shops but all lotto and football and tennis, no horse racing. They’re generally called automats which sounds more like a laundry. Ironically a laundry is much harder to find.
Similarly there’s any number of bars and cafes where coffee and drinks are plentiful but food is hard to find. There’s a multitude of bakeries but whole grain breads a little harder to find.
There’s any number of hairdressers where you can get a cut for 40 kuna (about seven euros) which bizarrely is about half what you’ll pay for a short cab ride. Use Uber, the locals told me.
There’s any number of tours to be taken from Dubrovnik and most, in the 40 euros price range, are well worthwhile – especially to Montenegro, an independent state since 2006. It’s not in the European Union but the only currency dealt with is euros.
It’s worth a visit for no other reason than to take in the breathtaking Bay Of Kotor but you might also like to visit Budwa where you can dine, on the water, and on the local Pasujli (sausage and bean soup) washed down with a beer and a decent glass of red for all of 13 euros at Restaurant Jadran at Place Beach.
Football, of course, is dominating the Croatian news with the team unbeaten in the first three qualifying rounds and the newspapers have responded accordingly.
That’s brightened the mood of the place but the economies of Croatia and Montenegro, largely reliant on tourism, are not bullish enough to prevent an on-going exodus of young adults which has been a recurring theme.
As to my earlier mention, this week, of the mass exodus of Croatians to Australia in the 1920’s, Thoroughbred Breeders Victoria’s Pat Clancy was able to shed some light – providing the link below which mentions 1200 people departing the port of Prigradica, on Korcula, in one day in 1925.
“I remember this same story being mentioned by our wine guide when we visited Croatia a few years ago. It was after World War I that phylloxera started to devastate the local wine industry, particularly in the Dalmatia region,” Clancy recalled.