New spirit of openness and love of France at Ballydoyle

Hell hath no fury like a punter scorned and backers of St Nicholas Abbey have been venting their spleen in all corners of the world wide web since the news emerged yesterday morning that the colt was to miss Saturday's Derby. To Ballydoyle's credit, the announcement of St Nicholas Abbey's "slight muscle problem" was made as early as possible through the Coolmore website, although the same cannot be said about the news of the same horse's below-par gallop the previous Friday, which seeped out to a much greater extent before a statement from Aidan O'Brien emerged via the same route. O'Brien's own rather organic website lasted only a matter of months before being replaced by a more official-looking channel of information from Coolmore, but at least the news is still coming out. "We thought he could walk on water," O'Brien said of St Nicholas Abbey in Tuesday's statement, words that will rightfully be taken with a pinch of salt by most, but illustrate the way in which the power of the media can be harnessed by the canny marketeer. A web search yesterday for news articles containing the words "St Nicholas Abbey" and "walk on water" found 248 different pieces. Among those with greatest cause to celebrate developments of the past 48 hours must be the French racing authorities, who have unusually attracted a couple of credible Ballydoyle challengers to this year's French Derby. The race was still run over a mile and a half when the John Hammond-trained Montjeu carried the Tabor colours to victory in 1999, with the O'Brien-trained Tchaikovsky – in the same ownership – back in fifth. Since then, Ballydoyle has sent a stream of largely unexceptional performers to compete in the contest. Even last year it was only Westphalia, hardly one of the O'Briens stars, who was sent as first string before finishing third with three stablemates further down the field. However, to the cost of many ante-post punters, it is unbeaten Dante winner Cape Blanco who has this year been selected to join Viscount Nelson and run at Chantilly despite his obvious claims at Epsom. Since 2005, the French Derby has been run at one mile, two and a half furlongs and the shorter trip brings an increased cachet for a potential stallion. Furthermore the race has, in recent years, thrown up a greater number of successful stallions than the Epsom equivalent. Poor Sir Percy, who won the Derby in 2006, has already had his stud fee reduced to just £6,000 this year despite his first crop still being at the yearling stage and therefore unable to prove themselves on the racecourse. But more than any of that, it is the resurgence of the French bloodstock industry which has left O'Brien's paymasters seeing the French Derby in a new light. The Deauville sales have bucked worldwide trends by returning impressive figures and last year Coolmore did a deal to stand the Irish Derby winner Soldier Of Fortune in France. The prospect of saddling a one-two-three at Epsom is nowhere near as appealing as winning both races and creating two new stallion prospects who can service different markets in different countries, possibly different continents. Rumour has it some of the Coolmore team had backed Cape Blanco for the Derby. But when it comes to competing with the millions on offer for success in the bloodstock business, betting considerations will always be secondary.