Friday 16th October 2009
Moore sweet on the Doc's chance
THE Emirates Airline Champion Stakes looks set to be a mouth-watering contest this year with 14 top-class individuals having been declared for the £350,000 Group 1 event.
Speaking at a Newmarket press conference this morning champion jockey Ryan Moore seemed positive about the chances of his big race mount, Doctor Fremantle.
The Sir Michael Stoute-trained four-year old is relatively unexposed compared to many of the field and both his trainer and jockey believe that we haven’t seen the best of him yet.
The son of Sadler’s Wells has won three of his four races this year and comes here on the back of an impressive win in the Arc Trial at Newbury last month.
Moore said: “He has won three group races this year. His only bad run came in the Hardwicke when he got sweaty and never switched off.
“At Newbury he had to give an Oaks winner eight pounds and he did it well.
“He’s a horse that only does enough which means he is underrated. He has always worked like a good horse at home and I think that he’ll definitely be involved.”
Also present at the press conference was trainer John Gosden, who saddles both Pipedreamer and Virtual in the Emirates Airline Champion Stakes.
Gosden said of the Cheveley Park-owned duo: “Pipedreamer didn’t come out of Sandown well so he had plenty of time off before winning the Prix Dollar. He’s in good form it’s nice to have him back. I’d say a mile one is perfect but we’ll see what happens.
“I asked Jimmy Fortune to ride Virtual as he has been trained for this and Jimmy’s won a Group 1 on him.
“Seb (Sanders) has won a Group 2 on Pipedreamer. In my opinion there’s nothing between them in the betting.”
“Virtual won the Darley Stakes last year so I probably think that a mile one is also his best trip.”
Marcus Tregoning spoke on the phone about his supplementary entry, Mawatheeq. The son of Danzig was the impressive winner of the Cumberland Lodge Stakes at Ascot and after that victory his owner, Sheikh Hamdan paid the supplementary fee to enter his horse for this contest.
Tregoning said: “I couldn’t be more pleased with Mawatheeq. Tadgh O’Shea gave him a blow on the grass this morning over five furlongs.
“He looks a picture and should run his best. He has freshness at his advantage and Richard Hills thinks that it’s a good move to run.”
