War set for battle over five

Top sprinter has Abbaye agenda

Last updated: 31st August 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

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War Artist

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Trainer James Eustace is poised to run War Artist over five furlongs for the first time despite his victory over six in a Group Two race at Baden-Baden on Sunday.

The six-year-old landed the Goldene Peitsche for the Newmarket handler who now plans to run over the minimum trip at Longchamp next month prior to a tilt at the Prix de l'Abbaye.

"We are going to drop him back to five. I think the ground is important to him only in that he possibly doesn't get six on soft ground," he said.

"He appeared to handle the ground itself OK in both his races at Newbury and Doncaster. He showed a lot of speed and looked awesome, but just didn't really get home.

"If he is effective over five we don't need to worry about the ground so much.

"He's in the Abbaye and he's in the Petit Couvert on the 13th. We'll run him in that if he seems OK and use it as an Abbaye trial.

"If everything went well we'd love to take him to Hong Kong in December, but that's dream territory. We'll see how he gets on in September and October first.

"After the race on Sunday he wouldn't have blown a candle out. I think he's back to his best."