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| Staff Writer |
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For Saturday's Vertem Futurity Trophy at Doncaster, 17 horses have been entered throughout the course of the five days, including the exciting Nottingham victor King Of Steel. David Loughnane's youngster was a giant amongst his peers in the Colwick Park paddock and made quite an impression in his first race, which he won by a comfortable margin of five lengths. The Derby hopeful has "have a stab" at the £118,400 first prize if connections deem a trip to Town Moor the appropriate decision. The horse cost owners Amo Racing $200,000 as a yearling, and he has checked all the necessary boxes and reaffirmed the promise of his work at home.
“He’s come out of the run at Nottingham very well and we think he’s a nice horse,” said Loughnane.
“But it’s quite a tall order to go from a novice or a maiden to Gr.1 company. There are 17 horses left in there and there are multiple groups and listed winners in there and Aidan O’Brien has six or seven. I know they are not all going to run, but we’ll just see how the week pans out and monitor declarations and see from there – there’s no decision made yet. So, if it is the right race on Saturday, we will take a crack and if not, we’ll wait,” Loughnane added further.
The prestigious Gr.1, which often helps shape next year’s classic picture, will be sponsored once again by the company founded by successful racehorse owner John Dance – Vertem Asset Management.
Dance’s company has backed the final Group One of the UK Flat season since 2018 and multiple future Classic winners appear on the recent roll of honour.
“We are delighted to be able to continue our association with the Futurity Trophy for another five years,” said Dance.
“The race has consistently proven itself to be one of the highlights of the end of the season and we could not be more pleased at the number of horses that have gone on to even further success from our race,” commented Dance.