‘Professional’ Pinatubo pleases trainer Appleby
CHARLIE APPLEBY believes Qipco 2000 Guineas favourite Pinatubo is the “ultimate professional”.
The Shamardal colt was unbeaten in six outings last year, culminating in Group One victories in both the National Stakes at the Curragh and the Dewhurst at Newmarket.
Pinatubo was awarded a mark of 128 following his impressive juvenile campaign – making him the highest-rated two-year-old since Celtic Swing in 1994 and putting him ahead of Frankel.
Appleby thinks Pinatubo’s mindset is what sets him apart ahead of his planned reappearance in next week’s Newmarket Classic.
He said: “I think his asset is he’s the ultimate professional. He’s like any sportsman at the top end – you generally don’t see them fretting coming into a championship competition, whether it be boxing or golf. Those cool, calm customers are the ones that will often turn up with their ‘A’ game and channel their positivity into the match, the swing of the club or the punch of a glove.
“Those are his attributes – he just turns off, he’s a got a great mind on him. He knows when those gates open, it’s game on.”
Pinatubo is a general 10-11 favourite for the Guineas and has dominated the ante-post market throughout the winter months. The Aidan O’Brien-trained Arizona is his closest market rival as a 7-1 shot, but given that runner finished two lengths behind Pinatubo in the Dewhurst, Appleby’s main worry would be the draw on the Rowley Mile.
He said: “The draw would be one thing (that concerns me) – at Newmarket they’re probably going to come from left to right with the stands rail being the higher numbers – so we would like a draw to help William (Buick, jockey) get into a position where he’s comfortable on him.
“Without wanting to sound too confident, he’s pleasing us, he’s the highest-rated two-year-old we’ve seen in the last 25 years, he looks great, he’s won on all ground conditions and more importantly he’s won on that track so fortunately he ticks a lot of boxes going into the race. Let’s just hope we can see the Pinatubo we saw as a two-year-old.”