Trainer John Gosden believes it will be at least a week before deciding whether to point undefeated G1 Epsom Derby and this Saturday's G1 Coral-Eclipse S. winner Golden Horn (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}) towards the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. at Ascot July 25.
“I'm very pleased with him,” Gosden told At The Races. “He ate up everything last night. He had a good
lead out this morning. He had a good pick of grass and is on very good terms with himself. That is always a major bonus out of any race. You've got to watch your horse over the next week to 10 days. Obviously if everything is fine I will firm up on it later.”
After Golden Horn's unprecedented treble of the G2 Dante S., the Derby and the Coral-Eclipse, the race Oppenheimer would dearly love to win now is the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth S. as his company, De Beers, were the race sponsors from 1972 to 2006.
Added the colt's owner/breeder Anthony Oppenheimer, “If the horse is looking good and John has no problem with him, of course we'll go for the King George. It would be the most exciting thing for me as the company I work for, De Beers, sponsored the race for 34 years and I was closely involved with the sponsorship.”
Oppenheimer reiterated his position about racing Golden Horn past his 3-year-old year and with an eye to the colt's future at stud.
Remarked Oppenheimer, “As for racing next year, I am not enthusiastic. It's not something I really feel strongly about, but I would prefer not to. I've no intention of selling the horse. I would want to have some sort of control over the horse when he goes to stud and I want him to go to stud, if possible, in Newmarket.”
The Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, for which the John Gosden-trained colt would have to be supplemented, could be his swansong as long as the ground was not soft at Longchamp Oct. 4.
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