Almost as soon as the jubilant Chris Hayes passed the post aboard Awtaad in the Irish 2,000 Guineas at the Curragh on Saturday night it was clear that Royal Ascot, and not Epsom, was on the cards.
Awtaad extended his unbeaten sequence to four, having finished third in October on his racecourse debut. The 1600-metre Classic was clearly the sternest examination he had yet faced, but by beating English 2,000 Guineas winner Galileo Gold by two and a half lengths, he once again showed he is a colt of the highest order.
Awtaad, trained by the 83-year-old Kevin Prendergast, is by Cape Cross, the sire of English Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winners Sea the Stars and Golden Horn. He is entered in the English Derby in a fortnight but Hayes was adamant after the race that Royal Ascot should be the colt’s next target. It seems that owner Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, who could still possibly run English Guineas runner-up Massaat at Epsom, agrees.
“I had a brief chat with Kevin and Sheikh Hamdan last night,” Angus Gold, racing manager for Sheikh Hamdan, said on Sunday.
“My gut reaction, which I think Sheikh Hamdan shared, would be to go for the St James’s Palace (Stakes).
“The Derby is a lovely idea, but you’d be going up a considerable amount of distance in a short space of time.
“I’m sure he would get further as he has a wonderful temperament, but he looks a high-class miler to me and after beating the English 2,000 Guineas winner, I think you’d be hard pushed not to go to Ascot.
“Hopefully he’s going to be a stallion for the stud and he’d look an even more attractive proposition if he were to win the St James’s Palace.”
Prendergast has trained for the Minister of Finance for over 25 years. His record for Sheikh Hamdan has been mixed, and Awtaad was Prendergast’s first winner to carry successfully the famous royal blue and white silks in a Group race since Moiqen won the 2008 Ballysax Stakes.
“It was a fantastic result and I’m so happy for Kevin, for all his team and Chris Hayes,” Gold added.
“Kevin has been training for Sheikh Hamdan for many years without having much joy, so I’m thrilled for him to get a horse like this at this time of his life. He’s an incredible man.
“I don’t think there was any fluke about it. He wasn’t a lucky winner – I think he won it fair and square.”
It looks likely that Exaggerator will get the opportunity to show that his victory over Nyquist in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on Saturday was no fluke in the Belmont Stakes in three weeks.
Exaggerator used his ability to handle sloppy conditions to finally beat Nyquist in the second leg of the US Triple Crown after three previous clashes with America’s new darling.
Mario Gutierrez contributed to Nyquist’s third-place finish by helping to set a furious pace on the favourite, which resulted in Kent Desormeaux and Exaggerator coming through the pack in the straight alongside runner-up Cherry Wine.
Keith Desormeaux, trainer of Exaggerator and brother of the winning jockey, told reporters afterwards that his charge would head for the Belmont in three weeks “with bells on,” while Doug O’Neill, trainer of Nyquist, appeared happy to pick up the gauntlet.
“Hats off to team Exaggerator,” O’Neill said. “I didn’t think we could get beat, to be honest. We’ll huddle up with Paul [Reddam] and the crew. If he comes out of it OK and in good shape, maybe we’ll try it again.”
Mikio Matsunaga, trainer of fifth-placed Lani, revealed that the UAE Derby winner would also contest the third leg of the Triple Crown.
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