Dr. Zempf lined himself up for a Classic tilt with victory in the Ballylinch Stud “Red Rocks” 2,000 Guineas Trial Stakes at Leopardstown.
Always appreciated by coach Ger Lyons, the Dark Angel pony just missed group one at the Phoenix Stakes and when it came down to the juniors final game at Middle Park, it was only beaten yet. full of three lengths.
Colin Keane was quick to follow Ryan Moore as Glounthaune led them, and the well-backed 11-10 favorites headed halfway through.
The Acropolis finished strong to go half the length, but there was much to like about the way the winner conducted his business on the first attempt beyond six feathers. Betfair and Paddy Power won 33-1 from 50 minutes on his chances in the Qipco 2000 Guineas.
Lyons said: “Need to improve a lot, need to have what he’s going for.
“I’m going to talk to Peter (Brant, the owner) right now and see what he thinks. He gets there earlier than he wants and then he parks, he just does enough.
“I don’t know what an informative race it was, he should have won and maybe he should have won it easier than that, but job done.
“That’s what he also tends to do at home, he just does just enough. There’s a lot of improvement in him. Colin says he’s hit his cycle in the poles. There’s a bit of good work left to do, but he needs to improve.
“He’s still in the pot for the Guineas, if we have a Guineas pony it’s him.”
He added: “I’ll talk to Peter and we’ll work it out from there. He’s got a race under his belt and we can go to Newmarket at the end of the month if we need to, but We have a long way to go on a 120-rated horse.”
“We’ll see how he comes out of this game. I didn’t expect this to happen to him this weekend, thought it was going to be heavy ground and everything like that, so we’re on.” are leading the game and have options.
“Personally, I think we need to improve to continue down this path, but that’s what these tests are about.
“A mile shouldn’t be a problem for him, he just doesn’t need to be left behind so fast, he’s one of those people who wants to be late.
“The trials were good and he won, you can only beat what’s in front of you. We’re not going to break champagne or anything, but we’re happy that the first one is done. Fort.”
