Wathnan Racing is spoilt for choice when it comes to promising stayers, and it is the G2 Queen's Vase winner Gregory (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}) who is the more likely runner in the G1 Qatar Goodwood Cup, while Gold Cup winner Courage Mon Ami (GB) (Frankel {GB}) could wait for York or Doncaster.
“They have both come out of Ascot really well, I was in there looking at them last week and I was absolutely delighted with how they look,” said Richard Brown, advisor to Wathnan Racing.
“Gregory is a big horse who is only going to get better with age and we won't over-race him this year. We will probably only run him twice more. His main aim is the Leger and he may well take in the Goodwood Cup on the way because the three-year-old weight allowance is really significant.
“At the moment we're training both Courage Mon Ami and Gregory for the race, but only one of them will go. We're favouring Gregory because of the weight allowance and we want to keep the miles low on Courage Mon Ami.”
The Anthony Oppenheimer-bred Courage Mon Ami, who, like Gregory, remains unbeaten, has both Longchamp and a return to Ascot on the cards in the autumn after a trip to Yorkshire.
Brown added, “Courage Mon Ami is a four-year-old and we have seen in the past that those horses who get to the top of the staying division can go back and win at Ascot again, so his main aim already is next year's Gold Cup.
“He will probably run twice more this year with obvious back-end targets being Ascot or the [Prix du] Cadran and on the way we can go to York [for the Lonsdale Cup] or the Doncaster Cup if we don't go to Goodwood.”
Brown noted that the aim is for the pair of stayers, two of nine horses currently in training for Wathnan Racing, along with G1 Falmouth S runner-up Remarquee (GB) (Kingman {GB}), to remain apart from as long as possible.
He said, “We will be guided John and his team and where they want to go. We're favouring Gregory at the moment for Goodwood, but they are both going to be trained for it in case Gregory couldn't get there. Then Courage Mon Ami can drop into his spot.
“The St Leger is Gregory's number one target and then we can worry about what we do next year.
“If we are in the fortunate position that they are both fit, sound, healthy and training well then that is when we might not be able to keep them separate. But at this stage we will try to keep them apart.”
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