Soft ground a worry for Sequence
Following four consecutive victories, the Niarchos family-owned three-year-old lost his unbeaten record at the hands of Aidan O’Brien’s potential Triple Crown aspirant Camelot in the Epsom Classic. He now makes the cross-Channel journey to France and Lanigan is hoping his charge can find the target at Group One level for the first time.
He said: “He’s in good order, but I would be a little bit concerned about the ground.
“I think he’ll run unless it became extreme or something, so we’ll see what happens. He likes a nice, strong pace and to pass horses. We wouldn’t want it to turn into a sprint but a nice even pace all round.
“It’s his last chance to run against three-year-olds, so it would be nice if he could win, as it’s going to be tougher for him against the older horses.
“We’ll get this out of the way before we make any other plans, but we don’t want to be too hard on him this year as he’ll stay in training next year all going well.
“He’s strengthening all the time and I think next year is really going to be his year, so if we can campaign him this year with that in mind I think that will be in the best interests of the horse.”
Niarchos racing manager, Alan Cooper, also has one eye on next season. “We’re looking forward to seeing him back on the track. He came out of the Derby very well,” said Cooper.
“Unfortunately for everybody it is going to be quite soft, but it is fresh ground and hopefully it will be all right.
“Our long-term plan is for him to be in training next year, so we want to build towards that.”
