Dubawi set for drop in trip after Guineas flop
HUGO Palmer is thinking of dropping Dubawi Legend back in trip following his disappointing showing in the Qipco 2000 Guineas on Saturday.
The Dewhurst runner-up raced too freely during the mile Classic and came home last of the 15-runner field to leave Palmer disappointed and scratching his head.
“It was terribly disappointing because he didn’t run his race in any way. It’s almost like he panics and forgets to breathe,” said the trainer.
“He’s such a relaxed horse at home and if you hadn’t seen that happen in a race you would say his strongest suit is his mind because he’s got such a good mind at home.
“Tom (Marquand) said he went to post in a relaxed fashion and in all his home work, even when he went for a racecourse gallop at Newmarket and Wolverhampton, he switches off so beautifully well.
“But he was aggressive in the Dewhurst, he was aggressive in America and he was aggressive in the Guineas and he was also quite aggressive in the Acomb, so it’s sort of at least three times if not four times we’ve seen it now.
“It’s frustrating and it is something we need to try and resolve and I think the next time he races he will wear a hood and hopefully that might help him relax.
“He ran very well in the Dewhurst behind the Guineas second and he made the running that day and I think we might just have to make the running with him going forward.”
A trip across the channel could now be on the cards for the threeyear-old with ParisLongchamp’s Listed Prix De Pontarme on May 26 an option, and the Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot entering calculations for later in the summer.
“There’s a race at Longchamp on May 26, a seven-furlong Listed race for three-year-olds only, so I thought we might go there and if he could win that he might be a horse for the Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot,” Palmer continued. “I think we have to drop in trip and grade. He may be a sprinter, he’s a very fast horse, we may come back to six furlongs.”