HOBBS HELD TILL ASCOT
JOHN GOSDEN has confirmed Dubai Sheema Classic winner Jack Hobbs will not run again before royal ascot.
After an injury-hit 2016, the 2015 Irish Derby winner roared back to his best with a dominant display at Meydan last month.
The Hardwicke Stakes and the Prince of Wales’s Stakes over 10 furlongs are his options at the showpiece meeting in June.
Gosden said: “He will go on anything except firm ground. He travelled to Dubai well and has come back well. We’ll point him towards Royal Ascot as most of the big middle-distance races are not until June.”
So Mi Dar, forced to miss the Oaks through a setback last summer, is on course to return at York’s Dante meeting in May.
Gosden said: “She’s fine, the plan is to go to the Middleton.
“Royal Artillery and Western Hymn are looking towards the Gordon Richards Stakes at Sandown. It was good to bring them here to see the racecourse again and they worked nicely.”
● Aidan O’Brien insists the next two weeks are key as Churchill prepares to tackle a mile for the first time in the Qipco 2000 Guineas.
The Ballydoyle trainer reports the Dewhurst winner to have grown considerably and that the trip should prove no problem to him in the first colts’ Classic.
He said: “He’s doing everything unbelievably well. From this coming weekend it’s three weeks to the 2000 Guineas, so the next two weeks will be key, but he’s doing unbelievably.
“He looks a different creature. He’s big, powerful, has a good mind and is a great mover. He’s very big but not a long yoke, he’s compact, strong and well made.”
● Andrew Balding expects Poet’s Vanity to improve in the Lanwades Stud Nell Gwyn Stakes at Newmarket on Wednesday.
Winner of the Oh So Sharp Stakes last season, the Poet’s Voice filly is one of 20 entries for the notable Qipco 1000 Guineas trial. Balding said: “Poet’s Vanity has done well over the winter and I’m very happy with the standard of her recent work.
“She’s a big filly, and although I expect her to run a decent race on Wednesday, there is no doubt that she will come on for the run.
“I’d be surprised if she didn’t stay the mile of the Guineas, but doubt she will get much further.”
O’Brien’s entered Brave Anna and Roly Poly, first and second in the Cheveley Park Stakes, while Gosden can choose from Dabyah, third in the Marcel Boussac, and Daban.