Green Destiny to miss Hunt Cup, says Haggas

Green Destiny, one of the leading contenders for tomorrow’s Royal Hunt Cup, is set to miss the mile handicap.

Trainer William Haggas instead plans to run the four-year-old in the Listed Wolferton Handicap on Friday.

“We have decided to withdraw Green Destiny tomorrow as I consider the ground could be too fast for him and he will not be as effective over that distance on fastish ground,” said Haggas.

“His owner, Saleh Al Homaizi, is very conscious of the fact that the horse is and has been one of the favourites for the race for a long time but has accepted my view that running him over 10 furlongs in the Wolferton Handicap on Friday is more suitable for the horse, especially with rain forecast.

“He will therefore be declared tomorrow for Friday’s race.”

Roger Varian’s Eton Forever created a huge impression when winning the Spring Mile at Doncaster but was only fourth in Listed company at Ascot on his next start.

“He was a little bit flat at Ascot last time, he wasn’t quite 100% when he got home,” said Varian.

“It wasn’t a bad run, he wasn’t that far behind St Moritz who has run well all year and the winner that day, Andrew Balding’s horse (Side Glance), was a very, very good winner.

“It wasn’t such a poor run but perhaps not quite up to his true ability.

“He’s very well, but it’s a very good race and it will be a tough task off that mark.

“You don’t get many winners of it rated over 100, but if you are going to run in handicaps you may as well run in a big one so we’ll see how he gets on.

“He’s drawn 15 which is right in the middle. I’d almost rather be on one side or the other then you don’t have a decision to make.

“Being in the middle you either go up one side or the other and that means you’re not going in a straight line so I’d have rather have been one side or the other.”

Sir Henry Cecil’s Capital Attraction has shown little in his first couple of starts this season but jockey Tom Queally expects the application of headgear to bring about major improvement.

“I think you could do a lot worse than stick a tenner on Capital Attraction, who is around 50-1 for the Royal Hunt Cup,” Queally said in his column on www.racinguk.com.

“He’s wearing blinkers for the first time here, and has been working very well in the headgear at home. He’d previously been going through the motions, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they made all the difference.”

Ed Vaughan is praying Dance And Dance does not ruin his chance by missing the break.

The progressive five-year-old is inclined to fluff the start but once he does hit his stride he is a smart performer, as he showed when winning at Epsom on Derby day.

Dance And Dance has been penalised 5lb for that success and has been drawn in stall 30.

“He’s in terrific order but the draw is a bit of a worry. I suppose it’s made up our mind for us where we are going,” Vaughan told At The Races.

“We’ve got a top jockey (Ryan Moore) on board so we’re hoping for the best.”