 |
|
| Staff Writer |
 |  |
Ahead of her return to Ascot for the Gold Cup, David Menuisier is planning to give Caius Chorister one more outing to fine-tune her Sagaro Stakes runner-up performance.
Last season, she won the Group Three Prix Belle de Nuit with a career-best performance and proved her improvement on her first attempt at two miles. In her recent race, she pushed defending champion and last year's Ascot Gold Cup second Coltrane all the way to be beaten a head.
This win made the connections dream of Royal Ascot, but Caius Chorister's handler is taking a more careful view of her place in the staying division, unlike owner Clive Washbourn, who is already making space on his mantlepiece for the trophy.
Menuisier said, “She’s absolutely grand and has taken the race at Ascot really well. I think she will improve for that and has earnt her place in the top staying races
“I think a lot of the stayers have been around for a while now and it’s great if she can be the new blood in the division.
“People may not have realised, but she was carrying a 3lb penalty in the race and it does enhance the performance even more when you consider that.
“We’re remaining grounded – well I am, I’m not sure about the owner – but it is extremely exciting to be a part of her.”
Menuisier is considering sending Caius Chorister to the Group Two Prix Vicomtesse Vigier in ParisLongchamp, three days after the Sandown's Chasemoor Farm Henry II Stakes race. This approach will bypass the penalty that Caius Chorister would have to carry if running at Sandown.
The Prix Vicomtesse Vigier race has been used before by French staying star Vazirabad as a warm-up for the Ascot Gold Cup. Menuisier believes that Caius Chorister gets fresh quickly, so it wouldn't be ideal to risk her becoming too fresh before a race like the Gold Cup. Therefore, it's unlikely that she will go straight to Ascot.
“I think I would like to slot in a race in between, with a strong chance she goes to France for the Group Two, the Prix Vicomtesse Vigier. That is probably more likely than the Henry II Stakes for the good reason that she won’t carry a penalty, like she would have to at Sandown.”
On Friday, the talented colt Devil's Point secured his ticket to Cologne for the German 2000 Guineas, marking another successful outing for Menuisier's string of horses owned by Washbourn.
Devil's Point had previously finished as the runner-up in the Futurity Trophy at Doncaster last season, and his recent victory at Goodwood in a conditions race, which was named after Menuisier's former boss John Dunlop, was the perfect way to bounce back from his third-place finish in the Prix Djebel.
Menuisier added, “It was always the plan and I don’t mean to sound cheeky, but we always planned to run him at Goodwood to give him that last blow before the German Guineas – now he has had that run, I don’t need to work him beforehand.
“He’s improved his fitness on the track and I can now give him an easier time before travelling to Cologne. It all went according to plan and it was also nice to win in memory of my old boss John Dunlop, so it was an amazing day."