 |
|
| Sumita Pawar |
 |
Ed Bethell is likely to skip the King George Qatar Stakes with Regional and instead go straight to the Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes.
Regional, who has been in great form, has always been consistent over shorter distances but only won one of his first 10 races for Bethell.
Regional's Rise: Ready For Nunthorpe
However, this season he has stepped up his game, winning a competitive York handicap and the Listed Achilles Stakes at Haydock. Bethell now wants to see how Regional performs at a higher level and since he has proven himself on the Knavesmire, the trainer prefers to go to the Nunthorpe fresh rather than facing a strong field at Goodwood.
“He is still entered in the King George at Goodwood, but I would imagine it would have to cut up for him to go there,” he said.
“Goodwood wouldn’t really be his track. We ran him in the Stewards’ Cup and although he ran well, he absolutely hated the downhill.
“I imagine we will be going straight to the Nunthorpe. He’s very good fresh and he’s a big, flat track type of horse.”
Earlier this month, Regional was supposed to compete in the City Walls Stakes over the Nunthorpe course and distance. However, due to rain affecting the track conditions, he was withdrawn from the race.
Bethell is satisfied with this decision as his main priority is to maintain Regional's confidence before his attempt at Group One success.
“I could have run him at York in the City Walls with a penalty, but he is a fast ground horse and it did go good to soft,” he added.
“I was conscious I want to go to the Nunthorpe with a horse full of confidence, rather than me ruining his confidence by running him on soft ground.”
In addition to Regional, Bethell has also witnessed Oviedo represent his Thorngill House string, and the trainer was satisfied with his third-place finish in the Steventon Stakes at Newbury, despite the race not playing out in the colt's favor.
“Unfortunately the hour and a half of rain before the race got into the ground, so it was softer than ideal,” explained Bethell.
“But I thought he ran very well and way above 100. He needs a fast pace to aim at really and it was quite a stop-start race, which doesn’t play to his strengths.
“I was thoroughly encouraged by the run and it was maybe not a career best, but it was right up there with the best performances he’s shown me in the past.”
Bethell will now wait for the assessor to adjust Oviedo's mark before finalizing future running plans, which may include big-money races at Goodwood and York, as well as a potential trip to Deauville.
“I will see what the handicapper does with him,” he added. “There’s two very nice handicaps, one at Goodwood and one at York that he might slip into nicely.
“He’s a very hard horse to place in those Listed and Group races because, like yesterday, you could end up taking on a horse like Al Aasy who we all know is very good.
“He will have an entry in the Prix Nureyev (August 13) at Deauville as well, which would be very much ground dependent, but Deauville in August, you might just get some good ground over there.”