PRESSING NOT WITHOUT A CHANCE IN PRINCE OF WALES

It's possible that PRESSING (35) is uniquely well suited to the fast ground, slow early pace, dead flat tracks and relatively long homestraights provided by top middle distance races at the Cappannelle and San Siro. But watching his latest effort in the Premio Presidente della Repubblica had me thinking that he's not without a chance in the upcoming Prince Of Wales Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Soon after the sprint to the line began up the straight Pressing suddenly burst three lengths clear in the most remarkable fashion. SADDEX (35) came down the wide outside with a long run to nail him on the line. But it was still a terrific effort. After all Saddex is one of the best horses on the planet and a near unstoppable force in single figure fields. To run him so close, even if he did steal first run on his rival, is quite some performance.

If the photo and one other narrow loss to the multiple Group 1 winner Distant Way had gone the other way Pressing would have won the last seven times he's run in Italy. He has yet to win elsewhere but has had only three shots at doing so and has run well every time.

I'm not sure jockey Kerrin McEvoy was right to say Saddex would have been suited by softer ground and a longer distance. He showed here and in the Prix Ganay that ten furlongs on fast ground suits him fine. The only major requirement for him seems to be a smallish field so that he can enjoy an uninterrupted run. He's yet to win in a field bigger than nine and McEvoy certainly helped him here by keeping him wide to avoid any traffic.

It's probably a smart move shooting for the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud with Saddex next time as that race has attracted the single figure field he seems to need in fourteen of the last twenty years.

I'm surprised that Saddex wasn't entered in the Eclipse as that race usually features a small field. It will now be interesting to see whether he gets put in the King George, another big Group 1 that often has a small number of runners.

DERBY ITALIANO LOSERS LOOK BETTER PROSPECTS THAN THE WINNER

If you look back at the results of the Epsom, Irish, German and French Derbies you'll invariably find that the best horse won the race. For some reason this has rarely been the case with the Italian Derby. Eight future Group 1 winners finished second, third or fourth in the race between 1995 and 2007 behind mostly ordinary winners, just four of which went on to score again at the top level.

Brilliant horses like Falbrav, Vinnie Roe, Carroll House, Paolini, Ungaro and Ramonti have all placed in the Derby Italiano without winning. And I rather suspect that the tradition of forgettable winners and smart placed horses is going to continue now that the distance of the race has been cut to eleven furlongs.

I find it hard to enthuse too much over the winner CIMA DE TRIOMPHE (38). Yes he's a good looking, pretty scopey sort (he looks like he'd make a nice jumper actually). And yes he quickened up nicely to take the lead and hold off his challengers through the last furlong. But watch the video of the race and you'll see that he was gifted a near miraculous passage through the huge field. Whenever a gap needed to open up for him it was if his jockey's whip was a magic wand - he'd wave it and the gap would appear. The horse never had to break stride for a second. My feeling is that, like so many winners of this race, he's not going to win again in Group 1 company.

Runner-up PERMESSO (38) looks a likely candidate to improve past the winner. He found himself in heavy traffic, a long way back entering the straight and had to be angled out for a run down the wide outside. The winner edged by him down the rail when he produced the brief burst which won him the race. But Permesso was grinding away remorselessly at his lead all the way to the line afterwards, only going under by half a length.

Permesso has run into traffic problems before in big fields and looks to be best when he faces few enough rivals to ensure his long late run is uninterrupted. So far he has won all three times he's run in fields of eight or less and lost all four times in bigger fields.

Third placed PAPETTI (37) looks another horse that should improve past the winner. His jockey seemed rather too enthusiastic to my eye. He never let up on the horse from half a mile out and was jumping up and down in the saddle and waving his whip about like the Energizer Bunny while the duo negotiated their way through traffic. At one point around two furlongs out this seemed to unbalance Papetti and he hesitated for about fifty yards before picking up strongly and then keeping on really well all the way to the line.

Papetti won all five of his previous starts impressively. And in his prep race he clocked a seriously good Group class time over ten furlongs at San Siro. He ran three fifths of a second closer to my standard times than the next fastest race on the card, and that was won by an older Group racer. The second horse came out to frank the form by winning a good Conditions race next time by six lengths. If I had to pick the most likely future Group 1 winner out of the race I'd have to opt for Papetti.

Fifth placed VOILA ICI (36) clearly wants longer. He won over nine furlongs as a two year old and finished second over what looked an inadequate ten furlongs to Papetti on his seasonal debut before romping home by six lengths when stepped up to a mile and a half in his prep for the big race.

Here Voila Ici came from stone last in a field of eighteen turning into the straight and gained ground steadily all the way to the line, showing a fair amount of knee action as he passed one horse after another. He looked to have a good deal more left at the finish than any of his rivals and was still moving smoothly. His connections must be thinking that if the race hadn't been cut back in distance they might well have won themselves a Classic. Certainly Voila Ici should improve back over a longer trip, and though he's won on fast going his stride pattern suggests that he'll surely do best in the long run when there's a bit of cut in the ground.

RYAN IS A USEFUL STAYER

RYAN (38) gave a boost to the form of last year's Italian St Leger winner Spanish Hidalgo when taking a good Listed race over 1m 7f on fast ground at San Siro in fast time.

The form of the Czech five year old is a bit hard to trace as its spread across six countries. But it's worth the effort to lookup because it reveals this was his eleventh win from nineteen starts.

Ryan has now placed in no less than five St Leger's in various countries and also in a Derby. He seems to go particularly well when fresh, that is on his first two starts of the season or with five week plus breaks thereafter. He's won eight times out of nine in these circumstances.

Right now Ryan holds no entries in British, French, Irish or German Group races. But if you ever see his name down to run in one don't dismiss him as a no-hoper. He ran fast enough here to win a decent Group race.