Avenir Certain bypasses Royal Ascot
Tuesday 5 May 2015 15:43, UK
Avenir Certain is to sidestep a visit to Royal Ascot in favour of taking up an engagement on French Oaks day.
Last year's French 1000 Guineas and Oaks heroine could only finish seventh on her reappearance in the Group Two Prix du Muguet at Saint-Cloud on Friday, after suffering trouble in running at a critical stage of the mile race.
Although the four-year-old holds entries in both the Queen Anne Stakes and the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes at Royal Ascot, connections are keen to keep her in France for a shot at a Group Three mile event on June 14.
Sylvain Vidal, racing manager to part-owner Gerard Augustin-Normand, said: "We were a little bit disappointed with her run on Friday, but being in the number one stall was no good for her.
"Everything went wrong for her, so we have to have forget that race.
"She will now go for a Group Three mile race on French Oaks day on June 14. She needed to race better than that to go for Royal Ascot or Newmarket.
"We will have to try again before we can come over to England with her."
