By Daithi Harvey
Lambourn trainer Sylvester Kirk is looking forward to the season ahead with his stable-star Salouen (Ire) (Canford Cliffs {Ire}). Kirk kept the colt busy during his juvenile campaign which saw him run nine times but he kept his form remarkably well, only once finishing out of the money and reserving his best performances for his last two starts of the year. Salouen, an €85,000 yearling at Goffs, took five runs to break his maiden but he quickly progressed from that point, adding a Salisbury novice race to his tally before coping well with the sharp rise in class when second in both the G1 Qatar Prix Jean Luc Lagardere at Chantilly and the G1 Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster. Kirk has further big plans for this year as he commented, “Salouen is in good shape and the plan is to get him to Epsom for the Investec Derby [Jun. 3]. He has done really well over the winter. He has strengthened up lovely and could not be better at the moment.”
Though he coped well with a mile as a 2-year-old Kirk is cautious about Salouen's chances of relishing the Derby trip. “He is out of a Galileo mare which gives me hope that he will get the mile and a half. You never know until you try, but he looked to stay well last year.” Kirk hasn't penciled in an exact starting point for the 3-year-old yet but is keen to wait for good ground before getting underway. “I don't know where he will start off yet. We will put him in all the good Derby trials and just see how the ground is looking nearer the time. We think he wants fast ground as he broke the two-year-old course record at Windsor on good to firm ground.”
Salouen was one of ten horses added to the G1 Investec Derby at a secondary entry stage this week. Five of these entries are owned by Godolphin and they include recent G2 UAE Derby winner Thunder Snow (Ire) (Helmet {Aus}).
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