Tuesday 13 October 2015 09:45, UK
Intilaaq will be put away for the season after being taken out of the QIPCOChampion Stakes at Ascot on Saturday at the five-day confirmation stage.
Connections of the Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum-owned colt took the decision after not being fully satisfied with the three-year-old's racecourse gallop at Newmarket at the weekend.
However, trainer Roger Varian remains convinced Intilaaq is a Group One horse in waiting, having won the Group Three Rose of Lancaster Stakes on his final start at Haydock in August in the style of a potentially top-class performer.
"We gave him a racecourse gallop at Newmarket on Saturday and he didn't gallop badly by any stretch of the imagination, but he didn't quite fire in his work like he has been doing and like we know he can do when he's 100 per cent," said Varian.
"We're pretty sure he's a Group One horse, but to run in these Group One races you've got to be 100 per cent. Paul (Hanagan) rode him in his work and when he got off he said he'd felt this horse better. It's been a long year. He's not run many times, but he's had a stop-start year and has shown masses of potential.
"He's a lovely horse and we don't need to run him if he's not quite cherry ripe. That's what we collectively felt, so he'll be finished for the year now and we're very much looking forward to the bigger races with him next year."
