Sunday 13 October 2019 15:17, UK
Charlie Appleby is confident Pinatubo will get a mile next year, when his unbeaten Dewhurst hero will further bid to live up to comparisons with the mighty Frankel.
The son of Shamardal made it six wins from as many starts with a second successive victory at Group One level at Newmarket on Saturday, adding to his nine-length romp in National Stakes to provide the Appleby with a first Dewhurst success.
Though Pinatubo was given a higher juvenile rating than Frankel following his triumph at the Curragh last month, Appleby knows he must shine again next term to match the exploits of the Sir Henry Cecil-trained superstar.
Appleby said: "Pinatubo is not a flashy horse like Frankel was, we all know what an amazing horse he was and he had the stature of being trained by Sir Henry Cecil.
"He is a completely different horse as Frankel was keen to get on with things and that made him have that 'wow' factor.
"Pinatubo is a horse that just goes out there and does it. He has been to Epsom, Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood and nothing bothers him. You can't fault him.
"It is great for him to be put in the same sentence as Frankel, but he has got to go out and do it again next year.
"What people will be questioning is that he is not the biggest horse in the world, but to me he is a very neat racehorse that ticks a lot of boxes."
Given how Pinatubo finished the Dewhurst, his Derby-winning handler expects him to have no problem stepping up from seven furlongs to a mile in the Qipco 2000 Guineas back at the Rowley Mile in May.
He said: "William (Buick) got off and said straight away that the mile would be no problem. The good thing about him, which will help him see it out, is that he switches off so well.
"We all know how long the winter is with exciting horses, but hopefully we can put that to bed and look forward to the Guineas.
"Whether he has a prep run before it, that will be discussion to be had in January/February time."
While Pintatubo demonstrated a new side to his game, along with showing he has the ability to handle testing conditions, it was a win that also eased another concern in the mind of Appleby.
He added: "My only worry going into it was that as he is so laid back, would going in a horse box 10 minutes up the road wake him up enough, as all his runs have been far away, but as we saw, he was fine.
"His previous two races he had won emphatically, admittedly they were on a sounder surface, but what we saw was him do it in more of a fighting style in conditions that were going to be test for all the runners.
"William had to cajole him along, but once he hit the rising ground and got to Arizona, I was confident he was going to pull away like he has done in all of his races."
Appleby praised the role Godolphin supremo Sheikh Mohammed has played in Pinatubo's success story, having picked him as a potential superstar last year.
He said: "I just want to emphasise how great this is for Sheikh Mohammed, as he saw this horse at the farms this time last year and picked him out and thankfully let him come to Moulton Paddocks.
"For him to have had that interest from the start with a home-bred and see the horse flourish is great for him and the entire Godolphin team."
