TAKING over from Frankie Dettori was never going to be an easy task, but while Kieran Shoemark has done a fine job for John and Thady Gosden away from the limelight, the stable’s lack of big-race success this year means that the upcoming Royal Ascot meeting will see the new stable jockey firmly under the spotlight, and the growing band of doubters will be sharpening their knives in anticipation.

Gosden senior is famously loyal to his jockeys but a backroom vote of confidence is nothing compared to the confidence engendered by riding winners at the big meetings and Shoemark is badly in need of a result to get the proverbial monkey off his back.

The truth is that the jockey has been ill-served by his masters this season, but that won’t stop the crowd getting on his back, making Royal Ascot all the more important. John Gosden is not one to hurry his horses, with a Clarehaven runner in the Guineas a rarity, and the sole stable representative in the Derby was outsider God’s Window, leaving Shoemark without much realistic chance of a classic winner in his first season in the hotseat.

He has only had four rides in Group 1 races so far this season, in fact, and it’s been most unfortunate that while he was aboard top-rated runners in two of those races, neither was fully wound up on the day, albeit well supported by a betting public not expecting favourites to be short of fitness at the highest level.

Peaking too early

John Gosden will argue that it is a long season and having his best horses peaking too early is not conducive to keeping them at that peak through the summer and autumn, but punters were expecting better from Inspiral in the Lockinge and Emily Upjohn in the Coronation Cup, and they are more inclined to blame the jockey than the trainer when things go pear shaped.

Two losers isn’t the end of the world, of course, but I can’t help thinking that while it’s a trainer’s job to look after his horses, he also needs to think of the effect such seemingly wasted opportunities might have on the man employed to ride those horses.

It must rankle with Shoemark that the Lockinge went to another Gosden runner, and that it should be Inspiral’s lead horse at home adds insult to injury.

On top of that, Gosden senior made much of what he thought was a bad draw for Inspiral, and it’s unlikely that tactics which saw her switched all the way across the track were entirely Shoemark’s idea, with the rider also speaking to Frankie Dettori about how to ride the mare.

It bears repeating how John Gosden spoke of her afterwards, saying: “The filly will come on a bundle for that. The trainer is so hopeless he couldn’t get her fit at home.”

The comments on Inspiral came only after the race but Gosden warned beforehand that Emily Upjohn would need the run in the Coronation Cup and she looked well short of her peak as she backed out of things behind Luxembourg.

Those watching on television were likely to have heard and may have heeded the caution, but in a race lacking depth, plenty of others will have been tempted to back her at what must have looked very generous odds, and they will have been left smarting.

Odd move

It struck me at the time that sending a mare who runs so well at Epsom unfit for a winnable Group 1 like the Coronation Cup was an odd move from such a shrewd handler – she was put in at a shade of odds-on to win that contest and she will not find an easier race at the top level again – but the real proof will be in what happens later in the campaign, and if either of those mares can win a Group 1 later in the summer/autumn, that will be seen as justification for such a preparation.

If not, then those easier pickings will look to have gone needlessly by the wayside, and while John Gosden’s legacy won’t be harmed by a couple of loose shots at the top level, Kieran Shoemark has much more to lose in such a scenario and he needs big-race rides which are trained to the minute if he’s going to get a fair crack of the whip in his new role.

Big-race success

We expect the Clarehaven juggernaut to crank up a gear or two in June but while the Gosdens have nine Group 1 entries at Royal Ascot, Shoemark won’t have claim to most of those, and it may be that he will be relying on Inspiral and Emily Upjohn as his main hopes for big-race success.

It would be a big relief to both trainer(s) and jockey if one or both could leave their low-key reappearance runs behind to score; the doubters’ knives will be sharpened in anticipation of failure, but victory will see them sheathed, perhaps permanently. How sweet that would be for Shoemark.

I WON’T try to unpick the Derby other than to say it’s not hard form to interpret with the front three not only finishing in betting order but appearing to fully justify those positions in the race.

The one horse I would be inclined to mark up significantly was Dancing Gemini, who looked a blatant non-stayer in finishing sixth.

I must tip my hat to pressroom colleague Andy Stephens, who immediately put him up for the Eclipse at handsome odds of 66/1, which predictably failed to last, but while I certainly wouldn’t have turned down that bet if offered, I think that Roger Teal’s charge might be best returned to a mile, bearing in mind he ran a career best in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains when beaten half a length by Metropolitan.

He shaped like the best horse that day, conceding first run to a colt who got a dream passage and finishing well.

Dancing Gemini also shaped as if as good as any of his rivals in the Futurity last season but was arguably outstayed over a stiff mile by Ancient Wisdom. He’s certainly bred to stay but has looked a natural miler in his runs to date.

The Eclipse may well beckon, but I’d rather be a backer of Dancing Gemini in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood on the last day of July, and defeat at Sandown wouldn’t necessarily kill that dream.