28/1 Alandi Too Tasty to Miss

Let me tell you it’s tough being a genius yet, sometimes, I would prefer to be a fortune-teller.

Overdose was my 10/1 ante-post plunge in Royal Ascot’s King Stand Stakes but, heartbreakingly, he did not line-up for the race instead turning up in Bratislava where he landed a listed race and took his career record to 13 unbeaten races.

We did have a plan B, which was a 12/1 saver bet on Starspangledbanner but, agonisingly, he ran in Royal Ascot’s Golden Jubilee Stakes instead where he mullered 24 rivals in the Group 1 contest and then doubled-up in another Group 1, the July Cup, three weeks later. I knew he was a serious racehorse!

There is another serious racehorse with a similar profile – that being a domestic Group 1 winner which has been sold and transferred to the other side of the world – and is surely massively overpriced for his target (and the reason he was sold), the Melbourne Cup.

The horse in question is Alandi. Just what kind of money his former owner and breeder, the Aga Khan, sold this horse for is beyond calculation but he did so in the aftermath of his win in the Group 1 Prix du Cadran in Paris where he beat off Kasbah Bliss (a proven and reliable yardstick) and the four-time Gold Cup winner Yeats.

That race was over two-and-a-half miles which was a massive step into the dark for him. On his previous run, in stamina sapping soft ground, he landed another Group 1, the Irish St Leger over one-mile-and-six-furlongs – the furthest distance he had raced on to date.

With just eight races on the odometer this five-year-old has untold potential improvement but the question is… How much will this Group 1 winner need to improve to win a Melbourne Cup, a Group 1 handicap over two-miles?

Obviously everything will depend on the weight he is allotted (weights come out in early September) but, considering improvement is likely, if he is simply allotted a weight judged on his performance to date, he will surely be ultra competitive in the race which stops a nation.

Naturally, after the Irish trained Vintage Crop (1993 – also an Irish St Leger winner) and the Japanese trained Delta Blues (2006) won in a rout, the weights allotted non-Australian trained runners has been closely scrutinised.

However with Alandi now under the care and guidance of Australian connections there remains every chance he will not be burdened with a crippling weight.

Another positive: Alandi is out of the Irish and English Derby winner Galileo who is an exceptional sire and it is interesting to note that four of the last nine Melbourne Cup winners have been bred in England or Ireland.

All-in-all there is plenty of reason to give Alandi a massive chance – even in a race which will have a field 24 runners – and so his mouth watering quote of 28/1 with VC Bet should be snapped up before it disappears.