Unbeaten Toormore unlikely to reach the Curragh

Firm plans have yet to be made for last week’s impressive Veuve Clicquot Vintage Stakes winner Toormore.

Richard Hannon’s unbeaten colt, owned by Middleham Park Racing, got up close home to win cosily under RIchard Hughes and in the immediate aftermath races like the Royal Lodge and the Dewhurst were mentioned.

However, the son of Arakan would need supplementing for both of those contests and while he has been entered in the Group One National States at the Curragh in September, he is unlikely to head over to Ireland.

“There’s no firm plan,” said Tim Palin, spokesman for the owners.

“We’ll take the softly-softly route like Toronado last year, he’s not the type we’d want to thrown into the lion’s den.

“As Richard Hughes said, he’s all mane and tail and this lad is all about next year.

“He’s come out of the race fine but he’s still a bit raw, he’s lean and mean and has plenty of filling out to do which is why he didn’t go to Ascot.

“Richard Hughes has told us to avoid the National Stakes as that tends to be won by a battle-hardened two-year-old and Richard senior is not sure he wants to go a mile just yet which rules out the Racing Post Trophy.

“They went a mediocre pace at Goodwood but he’s got plenty of speed so he might not want a mile.

“The obvious race would be the Jean-Luc Lagardere at Longchamp on Arc day, or he might not even run again this season, we’ll just see we haven’t genuinely discussed it.

“I don’t think we’ll supplement him for the Dewhurst. It costs £30k, we won £40k the other day but I can’t see it.

“The phone has rung a couple of times but we’ve managed to keep them at arm’s length so far. If we want to progress we’ve got to keep good horses. If he was an out-and-out two-year-old we might have sold but he’s one for next year and we want to be involved.”