Tuesday 12 August 2014 15:53, UK
Telescope is under serious consideration for the £800,000 Juddmonte International at York on Wednesday week.
The Sir Michael Stoute-trained four-year-old, who finished second to Taghrooda in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot last month, will work in Newmarket on Wednesday.
That gallop along with a weather watch are set to be among the factors in the decision-making progress as to whether or not Telescope participates in York’s richest race ever.
Highclere’s Harry Herbert confirmed: “I think the likelihood is that he will run. We are hoping that will be the case. We want to look at everything – ground, opposition, so we are not on the, ‘Yes, he will run’, but we are not far off that.
“The horse is in very good form. He will be working on Wednesday morning. Sir Michael wants to see his wellbeing this week, how he works and look at the weather forecast – we don’t want to run him on soft ground. And a decision will be made later in the week.”
Telescope was an impressive winner at last year’s Welcome To Yorkshire Ebor Festival, landing the Neptune Investment Management Great Voltigeur Stakes.
The highlight of his 2014 season so far came with a superb seven-length success in the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Herbert was pleased, too, with how the son of Galileo ran in the King George but shared an intriguing insight from his jockey Ryan Moore.
Herbert said: “It was a really good performance but, as they say, hats off to a brilliant filly who beat us.
“But I think Ryan felt that he (Telescope) just possibly wasn’t quite as good as he’d been at Royal Ascot – as far as the feel that he gave Ryan. It was a muggy day and he just got a little warm beforehand. I don’t know whether that affected him but it’s interesting to hear what jockeys say.
“Potentially I think we all think there could be more to come from the horse, but that was still a wonderful performance. Now that he is fully fit and on the right ground we are seeing the real Telescope, which is exciting.”
Richard Fahey, David O'Meara, Niall Hannity and Mark Howard are on the panel for a special York Ebor Meeting preview night, to be held at the racecourse on Tuesday August 19.
