By Ben Massam
Juddmonte Farms' Flintshire (GB) (Dansili {GB}) will be transferred to trainer Chad Brown to target a 2016 campaign in America, it was announced Wednesday. A three-time Group I winner for trainer Andre Fabre, the homebred has made two previous Stateside appearances, running second behind Main Sequence (Aldebaran) in the 2014 GI Breeders' Cup Turf and more recently capturing Saratoga's GI Sword Dancer S. in dominant fashion last August.
“He's gone to Chad Brown in America where the fast ground and faster pace of the races should suit him,” said Lord Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager for Prince Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms. “There should be some good options out there and we'll work back from the Breeders' Cup.”
Grimthorpe said that they will take a wait-and-see approach with Flintshire, who may return to action by early summer.
“There are no firm plans to begin with, but something like the [GI] United Nations S. at Monmouth in July might be a starting point,” Grimthorpe noted.
Brown trained Big Blue Kitten (Kitten's Joy) to a pair of victories in the United Nations for owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey in 2013 and 2015. The latter win helped secure year-end honors as champion turf horse for Big Blue Kitten, who is expected to return to the races for Brown in 2016 under the new ownership of Calumet Farm. Brown also sent out Slumber (GB) (Cacique {Ire})–formerly owned by Juddmonte–to a victory in last year's GI Knob Creek Manhattan S. and runner-up finishes in the United Nations and GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic S.
Now six years old, Flintshire has finished no worse than third in his last 11 appearances, developing into a celebrated globetrotter of the international turf. Following his triumph in the Sword Dancer, the dark bay closed out his 2015 season with runner-up efforts in both the Oct. 4 G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and the Dec. 13 G1 Longines Hong Kong Vase–a race he won in 2014.
“He's in fantastic form, and even though he's six, there are no signs of him slowing down,” Grimthorpe said.
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