The next few days in England and Ireland concern St Leger watch, and Saturday's G3 Betfred Geoffrey Freer S. at Newbury could hold some clues towards the Doncaster Classic with Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum's Defoe (Ire) (Dalakhani {Ire}) testing his credentials against Godolphin's Frontiersman (GB)
(Dubawi {Ire}). Progressive this season, the 3-year-old took competitive handicaps at Newbury on May 20 and at York on July 1 prior to beating the subsequent G3 Rose of Lancaster S. winner Frankuus (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) in Hamilton's Listed Glasgow S. over 11 furlongs on July 21. “He's been progressive all year and we're looking forward to running him up in distance again,” trainer Roger Varian said. “He's a good goer and he has a good attitude. We've always thought he'd stay well and it was commendable he was winning competitive handicaps over a mile and a quarter. The race he won last time at Hamilton was just shy of a mile and a half and the further he went the better he looked–he needed the whole of that trip to wear down Frankuus. We've got the St Leger very much at the back of our minds, but he's got to improve a fair bit still.”
Frontiersman sets a lofty standard, having finished runner-up in the June 3 G1 Coronation Cup at Epsom and G2 Princess of Wales's S. at Newmarket on July 13. Trainer Charlie Appleby is keen to get him back racing after having to miss the G3 Glorious S. at a rain-drenched Goodwood earlier this month. “If he repeats either of his last two runs, he's sure to go close,” he said. “He's given me every indication that he's in the same sort of form. In fact, I've never had him better. His work has been good and the ground will be fine for him. I'm struggling to think of a negative, to be honest. He's won at Newbury before and if he brings his A-game then he's got to have a serious chance. I've got lots of respect for Roger's horse, though, as he looks a big improver.”
This is a fascinating renewal, with Lady Bamford's To Eternity (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) bidding to build on a six-length success on his seasonal bow in the Listed Chalice S. at Newmarket on Aug. 5 and Cliveden Stud's Listed Pretty Polly S. winner and G1 Epsom Oaks fourth Horseplay (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}) returning from a break having finished fourth in the G2 Prix de Malleret at Saint-Cloud on July 2.
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