Dermot Weld: Forgotten Rules’ Gold Cup bid hinges on Ascot ground
Should the ground be on the firm side, then Weld would pull the talented but lightly-raced five-year-old out of the stayers’ championship on Thursday week.
Forgotten Rules took his unbeaten record to four when giving 5lb and a length-and-a-quarter beating to Answered in the Vintage Crop Stakes, named after Weld’s 1993 Melbourne Cup winner, at Navan last month.
“Forgotten Rules is very well and we’re very happy with him, but he’s ground dependent and I can’t stress that enough,” the Curragh handler said.
“He loves to get his toe in, so he’s ground dependent.”
Weld sent out Mustajeeb to land the Jersey Stakes last summer and is thinking of sending him back for the Diamond Jubilee Stakes on Saturday week after he won the Greenlands Stakes on his seasonal bow.
“It was a Group Two and he did it very well. We’ve brought him back to sprint distance and he’s been very adaptable to it,” he said.
“He won the Jersey Stakes last year and ran very well in the Breeders’ Cup Mile and he’s a definite possible.
“He’s a Group Two winner over six, he’s a Jersey winner over seven. He’s pretty adaptable six or seven furlongs.”
Weld, meanwhile, is aiming Brooch at the Sea The Stars Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh on June 28 following her victory there last month.
Weld was particularly pleased with Brooch’s win in the Group Two Lanwades Stud Stakes as Waltzing Matilda, who finished fourth that day, gave the race a boost by lifting the Grade Two New York Stakes at Belmont Park on Friday.
“Tommy Stack’s filly advertised the form when winning in New York over the weekend and Brooch beat her very easily,” Weld said.
“She’s a class filly, won her Group Two nicely. I’d say she’ll reappear in the Pretty Polly during Derby weekend at the Curragh.”
