Dunlop plays down hype
The three-year-old is the first offspring of the fantastic Ouija Board, who took Dunlop all over the world and won twice at the Breeders’ Cup as well as winning the English and Irish Oaks.
Not surprisingly with such a famous mother, the Kingmambo colt has attracted plenty of attention in his two races to date. He was only sixth in a traditionally hot maiden at Newbury which contained subsequent French Derby fourth Colombian but then won impressively at Haydock, beating the highly-regarded Roger Varian-trained newcomer, Kawssaj.
“He did well. It was only a maiden but the runner-up looks a nice horse who ran well on debut and I know they like him,” said Dunlop.
“I think this is a logical stepping stone, it’s nine furlongs, they’ve had a little bit of rain so the ground should be beautiful and we will find out more about the horse tomorrow.
“The race at Newbury he made his debut in has worked out extremely well what with John Gosden’s horse getting placed in the French Derby, but we weren’t surprised as it is always a very good maiden.
“Our horse has been talked about quite enough but it’s great that the mare has had a winner with her first foal and we’ve always liked him.
“He’s an improving horse and one that will keep improving, so he’s certainly not the finished article.
“This is his first time in a handicap, and it looks a hot handicap, but we are hopeful he’ll run a very good race.
“We’ll go for this and we’ll see what happens. We had him in at York over 10 furlongs and while he will need that in time, I think the ground would be too firm there.
“He is still a baby, he’s got a future ahead of him but if it wasn’t for who he was nobody would be taking any notice of him.
“He’s not a bad horse and he’ll keep improving with time.”
