Patience and teamwork key to Mubtaker success

On the eve of Mubtaker’s attempt to win the Stan James Geoffrey Freer Stakes for the third year running, trainer Marcus Tregoning revealed that Hong Kong rather than Texas would be the seven-year-old’s most likely end-of-season destination.

Only then would a decision be taken whether to keep him in training in 2005.

Tregoning has had to adopt a patient policy in his training of Mubtaker owing to a handful of problems which over the past couple of years have restricted his movements.

The Lambourn trainer is quick to commend the experts who have tended the horse, describing their actions as “a real team effort”.

Mubtaker, the highest-rated horse in the 2003 International Classifications still in training, is likely to start a long odds-on favourite for tomorrow’s Newbury contest which Tregoning hopes will serve as a stepping stone to the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in which he finished a gallant second behind Dalakhani last year.

Reflecting on the career of the Sheikh Hamdan-owned Mubtaker, Tregoning said: “He’s never been the easiest of horses to train but when he does run he’s a real racehorse who gives it his best every time. The guts he shows when he’s in action make the problems we’ve had to contend with that much easier to handle.”

Tregoning singled out one particular leg problem which has plagued the star of his Kingwood Stables as the same which recently brought to an end the career of this year’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Smarty Jones in the United States.

Tregoning added: “He’s had a condular problem on his near hind which is a soft bone condition popular in horses trained in America. Smarty Jones had it on all four joints.

“This has held Mubtaker up a couple of times and is a thing which is difficult to restrict but I’m very lucky to have a good vet in Nicole Jones who has worked on my horses ever since I started training.”

Emphasising the importance of the teamwork involved in keeping Mubtaker sound, Tregoning continued: “I have a very accomplished physio in Sarah Pilkington who actually lives in France while the lad who looks after him, Gino Gibbs, is also able to give the horse physio and help with the problems generally.

“There is also Fred Storrer to consider. He used to look after Nayef and rides Mubtaker in his work most of the time.”

Looking ahead to possible objectives for the entire horse after his Newbury date, Tregoning cannot wait to run him again at Longchamp in early October, an action which would in itself effectively rule out any thought of letting the horse run in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Lone Star Park later that month.

Tregoning said: “Until he ran in last year’s Arc he hadn’t ventured into proper Group One company but he proved himself up to the task and I’m pretty sure we’ll have another crack at the race.

“He’ll be a fresh horse which might give him those few pounds in hands which he needs but he can’t then run at the Breeders’ Cup because it’s too close and he would have to fly out there straight away.

“The likelihood is he will than go to Sha Tin in December for the Hong Kong Vase which is a super race. He is a lightly-raced horse who has never to do the mileage you would usually associate with a horse of his calibre.

“Whether he carries on next year depends on what we manage to achieve this autumn but I personally would be very happy to keep going with him.”