European Road: Brave Emperor bids for Derby berth in Cardinal Conditions

The finale on the European Road, the Cardinal offers points on a 30-12-9-6-3 basis to the top five. It’s similar to the Kempton race, in that both are held at one mile on Polytrack. But unlike right-handed Kempton, Chelmsford is a left-handed track.

The Cardinal is scheduled for 2 p.m. (ET), the fourth of seven races on the card, and you can watch and wager at TwinSpires.com.

Here are three talking points for the Cardinal Conditions:

1. Brave Emperor and Stormy Entry are the only Triple Crown nominees in an 11-horse field.

The two Triple Crown nominees in the Cardinal have posted points on the European Road.

Brave Emperor’s 20 points from Kempton put him second on the European leaderboard, behind only Aidan O’Brien’s Cairo, who disappointed in the UAE Derby (G2). Brave Emperor has a winning attitude, crossing the wire first in his last six races. He’s won just two in a row officially, since he was disqualified for interference at Southwell Jan. 26. The Archie Watson gelding added blinkers after that miscue and promptly won a French listed race, the Prix de la Californie at Cagnes-sur-Mer, followed by a gutsy score over Alzahir in the European Road at Kempton. 

Irish shipper Stormy Entry comes off a third to Cairo in the March 3 Patton S. at Dundalk, picking up six points. The Charles Fipke homebred had won his two prior starts over that circuit, and as a son of Point of Entry, he could have scope to improve.

2. Bold Act and Iconic Moment are among several tough new rivals. 

Brave Emperor will meet a bigger, and overall deeper, field at Chelmsford, including Bold Act. A Godolphin homebred from the Charlie Appleby yard, Bold Act brings a three-race winning streak into his seasonal reappearance. Two of those scores came on turf, including a Newmarket nursery (handicap for two-year-olds) when last seen Sept. 22, but he’d also carried top weight to victory at Kempton.

Trainer James Tate is double-handed with Iconic Moment and New Definition, who fought out the finish in the seven-furlong Spring Cup at Lingfield. Iconic Moment edged his stablemate to remain perfect from three starts, the first two here at Chelmsford. He also sports an entry in the first British classic of the season, the 2000 Guineas (G1) on May 6 (Kentucky Derby Day), but the son of sprinter Harray Angel has to pass this first try over a mile.

Well-bred Physique captured an Oct. 28 Newmarket maiden for Paul and Oliver Cole, and Jane Chapple-Hyam’s Think Climate is 2-for-2 on all-weather surfaces. The full brother to Group 2 winner James Garfield broke his maiden on this track and added a Dec. 6 novice under top weight at Southwell.

3. Four from Kempton are re-opposing Brave Emperor.

The aforementioned Alzahir appeared to have the momentum at Kempton as he ranged up to Brave Emperor, but the winner dug in and held on by a head. It would not take much for the John and Thady Gosden runner to reverse the form here. Tenjin also did his best work late in third, beaten three-quarters of a length. Considering that Tenjin was also third to Iconic Moment and New Definition in the Spring Cup, he gives a form tie-in between those two races. 

Killybegs Warrior tired to fourth at Kempton, but the Charlie Johnston trainee warrants another chance based on his two-year-old form. By the Deep Impact stallion Saxon Warrior, Killybegs Warrior was fifth in a deep renewal of the Autumn (G3) at Newmarket. The fifth-placer from Kempton, Coco Jack, needs to find more in this field.