 |
|
| Staff Writer |
 |
Courage Mon Ami, son of Frankel and trained by John and Thady Gosden, will be heading to France for the Prix du Cadran after his recent loss to Coltrane at York.
The Gosden runner had previously won the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, narrowly defeating Coltrane, but lost his unbeaten record when finished sixth in the Goodwood Cup. Courage Mon Ami and Coltrane faced off again in the Lonsdale Cup, with the former carrying a 3lb penalty and losing by a length and a half. The connections are now looking forward to one final outing for Courage Mon Ami this season on Arc weekend in Paris.
“I thought he probably ran right up to form, as John said afterwards carrying the 3lb penalty is tough over that trip,” said Richard Brown, racing adviser to Wathnan Racing owned by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
“We were delighted with the run because it sort of showed that Ascot wasn’t a fluke. We hoped it wasn’t and Coltrane is a very good horse on his day – they’re the best stayers around really.
“Our horse was strong at the line, we know he gets two and a half miles obviously and I’d say that the Cadran will be his next target.
“Qatar sponsors the Arc meeting, so it’s important for those reasons as well, but that aside, the Cadran looks the obvious race for him and that’s exactly what Frankie said afterwards.”
Qatari Group Shines At Ebor Festival With Courage Mon Ami
According to Brown, the possibility of soft ground at Paris Longchamp is a little concerning. He expressed his worry by saying, "I would be a bit worried about a bit of soft ground. You never know really until you try it, I think he'll be OK but you never know." Once the Cadran is over, the focus will be on winning a second Gold Cup. Recently, the Qatari ownership group had four horses that performed well at the Ebor Festival. Courage Mon Ami was one of them.
Despite performing well in defeat, Brown admits that the team left the track with mixed emotions. Additionally, Gregory placed third in the Great Voltigeur, Ballymount Boy placed second in the Acomb, and Isaac Shelby placed fourth in the City of York Stakes.
He said, “Of course you want to win, that’s what it’s all about, but we had two seconds, a third and a fourth and if one of those had turned into a win, it would have been a hell of a week.
“We came away a little frustrated, but at the same time they’ve all run to a very high level.”
After placing second to the eventual Prix Morny winner Vandeek in the Richmond Stakes at Goodwood, Ballymount Boy was quickly acquired by Wathnan Racing. Although he was once again the runner-up to Indian Run at York, trainer Brown remains hopeful that Ballymount Boy will eventually have his chance to shine.
He said: “He ran well, possibly he’d prefer soft ground and also he was a breeze-up horse who has had some quick runs, so we’ll give him a break now.
“I was actually delighted. He obviously bumped into one at Goodwood and I’d say there’s a fair chance he’s just bumped into another good one at York.
“We’re going to give him a bit of a rest and give him just one more run this year, I would say.
“He’s shown he’s a Group level colt and I think he’ll only be better next year as well as he’s still relatively unfurnished.”
Isaac Shelby, trained by Brian Meehan, took on older horses on the last day of the race. Despite finishing behind Kinross, who he had previously challenged to a narrow defeat in the Lennox Stakes at Goodwood earlier this month, Brown believes that Isaac Shelby did not perform to his full potential.
“It’s the quickest we’ve run him back and I wonder if he was a touch flat,” he added.
“Kinross is a brilliant horse and we were a bit further behind him than we were at Goodwood, which I suppose makes you think he was just a touch flat.
“We haven’t made any plans for him. Myself, Brian and Olly Tait will sit down and do that in a couple of weeks, but I’d imagine we’ll give him a six-week break now and give him one more run somewhere.
“He’s learning to settle as he gets older. He’s a tall, narrow horse and I think he’s going to be a better four-year-old.”