Timeform can reveal that Constitution River’s Dee Stakes victory ranks as one of the very best performances in a classic trial for many a year, with the son of Wootton Bassett earning a rating of 124p for the success.
The withdrawal of the second favourite Morshdi left Constitution River to go off at odds of 2/9, the sort of price that suggested we wouldn’t learn much.
However, such fears proved completely wide of the mark, with the favourite dismissing his rivals – and with the clock very much backing up the visual impression, this must rank as one of the very best performances in a classic trial for years.
His performance is at least as good as those achieved by Casual Conquest (123) at Leopardstown, Cape Blanco (122) at York and Sir Dragonet (122) in the Chester Vase this century, all of whom went on to win at least one Group 1.
Potential new star
Timeform’s lead Flat analyst David Johnson said: “It’s impossible to escape the conclusion that we saw something out of the ordinary in the Dee Stakes, where Constitution River ran out a seven-length winner in a race-record time under conditions that were faster than the official.
“Aidan O’Brien has dominated the Chester trials for several years now – this was his fifth Dee Stakes in a row and his eighth in the last nine runnings – and this latest one served notice of the arrival of a potential new star on the scene.
“The yard probably have more suitable candidates for Epsom, the Vase winner Benvenuto Cellini for one, but Constitution River is surely a Group 1 winner in waiting at around a mile-and-a-quarter.
“And the prospect of a match-up with 2000 Guineas winner Bow Echo further down the line is a mouthwatering one.”
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Epsom Derby ratings
Elsewhere, Timeform believe Chester Vase winner Benvenuto Cellini will need to find an extra stone of improvement if he is to win a typical renewal of the Derby at Epsom, though that’s entirely possible given his performance on the Roudee was marked 6lbs higher than that of Lambourn’s 12 months ago.
The Frankel colt out of Breeders’ Cup–winning mare Newspaperofrecord earned a rating of 114p for his effort and had little trouble becoming Aidan O’Brien’s 12th Chester Vase winner.
Timeform can also reveal that Chester Oaks winner Amelia Earhart is the second highest-rated winner of the race since 2010.
She ran to a figure of 112p, which has only been topped by Savethelastdance (115) since 2010.
Timeform’s senior racing analyst Kieran Clark said: “Chester was the chosen location for the preparation of both last year’s Oaks and Derby winners and that could well be true once more.
“In what looked a deep running of the Cheshire Oaks, Amelia Earhart (112p) produced a performance already better than Enable had before following up at Epsom and she holds strong claims there next month.
“Indeed, only Savethelastdance (115) has gone there rated higher in the last decade.
“Benvenuto Cellini also looks the right favourite for the Derby – his performance of 114p was 6lb higher than Lambourn achieved last season and he looks capable of developing into a very smart colt.”
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Geoffrey H. Latayan