Ìreland could be next on Doyen agenda
Doyen has come out of his impressive success in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot yesterday in top form and Godolphin are now considering a trip to Ireland for their latest champion.
The Sadler’s Wells colt would be dropping back to 10 furlongs if he ran in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on September 11, but that does not concern his connections.
“Doyen’s in good form and now we will have to make and finalise plans for him in the next few weeks. We may well go to Ireland and we wouldn’t be worried about dropping in trip,” said Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford.
The four-year-old beat Hard Buck by three lengths in the midsummer highlight, with stablemate Sulamani a head back in third.
Crisford reports the pair to be none the worse for their exertions.
He said: “The King George is always a hard race, but they have come back safe and sound.
“Sulamani is fine, and hopefully now we can find some suitable options for him in the next few months.”
Connections of Hard Buck are unlikely to finalise plans for the American horse until Tuesday and a trip to Germany in September could be on his agenda.
The Kenny McPeek-trained five-year-old ran the race of his life to finish second to Doyen on his European debut.
The mile-and-a-half Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap at Saratoga on August 11 is a possible American target, but if he were to stay in Europe he could tackle the Grosser Preis von Baden in Germany on September 5.
“We are going to make a decision in the next few days about where we go,” said McPeek. “We could take him back to Saratoga for the Sword Dancer, but it may be too fast for him, or we could go to Baden-Baden.
“He is booked on a flight home on Wednesday so we will probably make a decision on Tuesday.”
The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp on October 3 was mooted as a possibility if Hard Buck ran well yesterday and McPeek is still keen to give it serious thought.
“The Arc is absolutely still a consideration,” he added.
The Brazilian-bred Hard Buck started his career in his native South America before being recruited by McPeek and owners Team Victory.
He belied his 33-1 starting price in the King George and McPeek reports the horse to have taken the race well.
He said: “He’s great this morning and he came out of the race very well. We were delighted with his run as a kind of first experiment. We were really pleased.”
Phoenix Reach bled internally when running disappointingly in the race.
The Andrew Balding-trained four-year-old dropped away tamely after racing prominently and in the end only had the Godolphin pacemaker, Lunar Sovereign, behind him.
“It was very disappointing for us all, but at least the fact that he scoped badly means we know he didn’t give his running,” Balding said.
“We had him scoped after the race and he’d had a significant bleed, which explains the poor run. We’ll have to look at options in America for him now.”
Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe betting:
Coral: 2-1 Doyen, 8-1 Bago, 9-1 North Light, Grey Swallow, 12-1 Latice, Mubtaker, 14-1 Ouija Board, Sulamani, 16-1 Warrsan, Gamut, Prospect Park, Papineau, Vallee Enchantee, Valixir, 20-1 Hard Buck, Powerscourt, 20-1 Blue Canari, Reefscape, 25-1 Fracassant, Lord Du Sud, Rule Of Law, Shirocco, 33-1 bar.
Ladbrokes: Evens Doyen, 7-1 Grey Swallow, North Light, 10-1 Bago, Sulamani, 12-1 Ouija Board, Mubtaker, 14-1 Gamut, Latice, Vallee Enchantee, 16-1 Papineau, Warrsan, 20-1 Fracassant, Prospect Park, 25-1 Blue Canari, Day Flight, Powerscourt, Valixir, 33-1 bar.
