The Citizen (Gauteng)

Latrobe won’t take on Winx

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Dublin - Trainer Joseph O'Brien is likely to shelve an audacious plan for Latrobe to thwart Winx's Cox Plate four-timer, after indicating his Irish Derby hero is set to step up in trip in the St Leger at Doncaster next month.

O'Brien was using the Juddmonte Internatio­nal as a fact-finding mission for Latrobe, but the Camelot colt was unable to live with Roaring Lion's turn of foot and trailed in seventh of the eight runners under Wayne Lordan at York on Wednesday.

O'Brien said: "We went to York to see how Latrobe would get on over ten furlongs (2000m) against older horses. We knew it would tell us where we stand with him and help us figure what route to take with him for the rest of the season.

"We are thinking of stepping him back up in trip now and aiming him at the St Leger at Doncaster. The Irish St Leger is a lesser possibilit­y.

"He saw out the mile and a half (2400m) in the Irish Derby really well so you would be hopeful that a mile and threequart­ers (2800m) at Doncaster would be right up his street. He is certainly not short of pace and that is why we had a crack at the Juddmonte but he stays very well too."

O'Brien sent out Rekindling to finish fourth in last year's St Leger on the way to winning the Melbourne Cup at Flemington in November.

Latrobe is priced between 12-1 and 20-1 for the final Classic of the campaign a fortnight on Saturday.

Meanwhile racing at Chepstow aas been abandoned after two races yesterday following concerns over the state of the ground.

Trainers, officials and jockeys, including Franny Norton, Luke Morris and Harry Bentley, inspected the surface at the 1200m start following the opening contest, with the second race taking place, before a second inspection was deemed to find conditions unsafe to continue –

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