St Nicholas bids to write his name in the record books

St Nicholas Abbey wins his second Investec Coronation Cup last year. Image courtesy of racingfotos.com.

On form, official ratings and past success in this race, this year’s Investec Coronation Cup looks a formality for the long odds-on favourite, St Nicholas Abbey.

He’s won the race for the last two years and if anything his form is getting better with age – he routed his rivals in the Dubai Sheema Classic on Dubai World Cup Night in March, leaving the Japan Cup winner, Gentildonna, trailing in his wake.

His trainer, Aidan O’Brien, has won the race six times in the last eight years so that speaks firmly in St Nicholas Abbey’s favour as well, though no horse has ever won the race three times. A piece of history may await the son of Montjeu.

If he shows up in the same form as he has the last two years, it is very hard to see him getting beaten, though the second-favourite, Dunaden, also looks to be improving and cannot be completely discounted.

His big day came in the two-mile Melbourne Cup in 2011. His two victories since then have both been over a mile and a half, but both were in overseas races against weaker opposition than St Nicholas Abbey.

His runs in top class 12 furlong races have tended to see him finishing strongly without ever posing a real threat, as was the case when he finished 4 ¾ lengths behind St Nicholas Abbey in Dubai in March.

His connections, however, feel that he is better than ever now and having a pacemaker (Chapter Seven) will certainly help his cause.

Chamonix, a stablemate of St Nicholas Abbey, is a tough stayer, but this is a huge step up in class.

Joshua Tree was disappointing in the QIPCO Yorkshire Cup earlier in the month, but had to carry a weight penalty and 14 furlongs on soft ground on his first start of the season appeared to find him out.

Ed Dunlop has only trained him for a few months but rates him highly, describing him as “a class horse”, and he should run a much better race on Saturday. On official ratings, he is only two pounds behind Dunaden.

He wouldn’t want the going too soft, however.

The race is live on Channel 4 at 2.40pm on Saturday, with the Investec Derby to follow at 4pm.