Golden Horn on course for Leopardstown after York defeat
Thursday 20 August 2015 17:51, UK
John Gosden is keen to run Golden Horn in the Qipco Irish Champion Stakes ahead of the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe granted suitable conditions following his shock defeat at York on Wednesday.
The Newmarket trainer admitted he got the tactics wrong by not making the most of supplemented pacemaker Dick Doughtywylie as Arabian Queen stunned the Knavesmire crowd by getting the better of the Derby and Eclipse winner by a neck.
Gosden will now prepare his star three-year-old for the Group One over a mile and a quarter at Leopardstown on September 12.
"He's absolutely fine. He ate up last night," the trainer told Racing UK.
"He got set alight a little bit early and a bump from his pacemaker didn't help.
"If we could ride the race again we'd probably do it differently, but I wish to take nothing from the winner.
"She was gutsy, classy, handled the ground and stuck her neck out and made use of every ounce of that 5lb allowance.
"The pacemaker set a steady pace and we should probably have sat behind that, but now it's too late.
"We'll go to the Irish Champion with him and let's hope it doesn't rain too much. Leopardstown is a lovely track and it drains very well.
"I don't want to leave a long gap top the Arc, having missed the King George - and I'm glad I didn't run him there over a mile and a half on that ground.
"Having missed that the key thing is to have continuity between his races and the Irish Champion is where we go."
Meanwhile, stable companion Jack Hobbs could use the September Stakes on the all-weather at Kempton as his prep race for Longchamp.
Gosden hinted the three-year-old may take in the mile-and-a-half Group Three contest on September 5 ahead of an outing in the Paris feature the following month.
After finishing second behind Golden Horn in the Investec Derby at Epsom in June, the son of Halling gained compensation in emphatic fashion when running out a clear-cut winner of the Irish equivalent at the Curragh.
Gosden said: "He could go for the September Stakes next as it fits in nicely with preparing him for the Arc.
"He's a horse that seems to act on most ground, so that wouldn't make any difference."
Jack Hobbs made his racing debut on an artificial surface when winning at Wolverhampton late last year.
