GOS: KICKBACK MAY PUT LION OUT OF HUNT
JOHN GOSDEN fears “a lot of kickback” could be Roaring Lion’s undoing if connections plump for a career swansong in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
A challenge for the $6m Classic is on the agenda for the son of Kitten’s Joy after he gained his fourth straight Group 1 triumph in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Ascot’s Champion Stakes card.
But Gosden (above), while reporting the colt to have emerged from Saturday’s test with “plenty of vitality about him”, warned a first race on dirt would represent a culture shock for Roaring Lion.
“The problem is not the surface but the kickback,” explained Gosden, who clinched the 2018 trainers’ title with a treble as Cracksman gained a repeat success in the Champion Stakes, and Stradivarius captured the Long Distance Cup
“He’s a horse that likes to come from off the pace. If there are 14 horses in the Classic, that’s 13 times four hooves — and that’s a lot of kickback.
“I’ve seen milers work in big fields on the dirt, but when you put them in a race it’s a different story.”
Gosden, the only British-based trainer to have won the Classic after Raven’s Pass scored on Santa Anita’s synthetic Pro-Ride surface in 2008, added: “The American dirt horse is a battlehardened creature.
“It’s not a lot of fun.”