Anthony Van Dyck makes winning return in Derby Trial at Lingfield

The Ballydoyle team secured another classic trial victory when their Anthony Van Dyck made a winning return to action in the Listed RaceBets Derby Trial Stakes at Lingfield. A Group 2 Futurity Stakes winner who was runner-up to Quorto in the Group 1 National Stakes and third to Too Darn Hot in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes, the Timeform 118-rated son of Galileo (by Sadler's Wells) is among the market leaders for next month's Group 1 Investec Derby.

The bare form of this two-and-a-quarter-length win appears some way below what's required to succeed at the highest level but he did it well and, importantly, it showed us that he stays the distance, something that was in slight doubt on breeding.

Not every Galileo stays beyond ten furlongs – although most do – and this colt is out of a daughter of speed influence Exceed And Excel (by Danehill) who has produced a Group 1-winning champion sprinter in the southern hemisphere.

Decisive – Anthony Van Dyck wins the @LingfieldPark Derby Trial for Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore… pic.twitter.com/wNyK1AXRSh

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) May 11, 2019

Bounding (by Lonhro) got that win in the Group 1 Railway Stakes over six furlongs at Ellerslie in New Zealand, she also won Group 3 contests over that trip and over seven furlongs in that country and to those she added a four-length score in a five-and-a-half-furlong Group 3 at Caulfield in Australia.

There are many top sprinters who also stay a mile and Bounding is among them. She only tried the distance once but was a three-quarter-length runner-up to Costa Viva in the Group 1 New Zealand Bloodstock 1000 Guineas at Riccarton Park.

The pair are out of Believe'N'Succeed, whose two wins at two featured a five-and-a-half-furlong Group 3 contest, and that mare's siblings include listed scorer Agulhas and the speedy Group 2 winner Kuroshio, both of whom are also by Exceed And Excel. The latter is a reverse shuttle stallion whose first juveniles caught the eye in the UK last year, and he stands at Clongiffen Stud in Ireland.

Arctic Drift (by Gone West), the grandam of Anthony Van Dyck, is a winning daughter of Grade 1 Alabama Stakes and Grade 1 Test Stakes heroine November Snow (by Storm Cat) and that full-sister to graded winner and blacktype sire Scatmandu is also notable as being the grandam of Grade 1 Carter Handicap scorer Morning Line (by Tiznow).

​Anthony Van Dyck, who was bred by Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt, has the potential to win at the highest level. Whether or not he can make the necessary progress in time for Epsom remains to be seen, but it is worth noting that he is a May 19th foal and so has not yet reached his physical third birthday, which means that he could still be getting better in the autumn and next year despite having already raced eight times in his life.