Criterion Right On Time For Ascot
Updated: July 21, 2015 at 4:17 pm
Trainer David Hayes admits that it took some time for his triple Australian Group 1 winner Criterion (NZ) (Sebring {Aus}) to adjust after shipping to England, but the conditioner insists his charge is now spot-on for a date in the G1 Prince of Wales’s S. at Royal Ascot June 17.
“He has really settled in well,” Hayes said Tuesday. “He arrived and felt the trip a bit and initially he had a bit of a spiked temperature and his blood wasn’t quite right. Luckily, he was having an easy couple of weeks after his busy schedule and it didn’t really affect his training routine, as I was going to give him two weeks to settle in.”
The 4-year-old arrived in England off a third in the G1 QEII Cup in Hong Kong Apr. 26, which came two weeks after he won the A$4 million G1 Queen Elizabeth S., Australia’s richest weight-for-age race.
“Once the blood came right, for the last three weeks he has had a lovely build-up and hasn’t missed a beat,” Hayes noted. “He had a look around Ascot two weeks out from his race to have a look at the course and give him a simulation of a race and he came through that very well. More importantly, that brought him on and switched him on again. He will have a cruisey gallop on the Watered Gallop [Wednesday] and then we will just be tapering into the race.”
Hayes said a decision on a jockey has not been made. Australian rider Craig Williams has partnered the colt for his last three starts, and Chad Schofield, who is doing a stint in Britain, has been riding Criterion in work.
“We thought we would try for either Frankie Dettori or Ryan Moore, but they both have commitments,” Hayes explained. “Chad Schofield rides him in all his fast work and has not hurt his chances of riding him. [Owner] Sir Owen Glenn will watch him do his final serious gallop tomorrow and he will then make a decision as to who will ride him.”
Another Australian Ascot invader, the 5-year-old mare Shamal Wind (Aus) (Dubawi {Ire}), will get the services of Ryan Moore for the G1 King’s Stand S. on the festival’s opening day, and trainer Robert Smerdon reported the G1 Oakleigh Plate winner has taken everything in stride since arriving in Newmarket last week.
“She’s in very good form and all the reports since she arrived in England have been very positive,” the conditioner said. “She took the flight well and has not lost too much weight, so that’s good news.