Royal Ascot is calling for Where Love Lives after his National Stakes success at Sandown.
Kevin Ryan’s star two-year-old showed plenty of heart to come out on top during a fascinating contest in Esher to seal Listed honours by half a length on only his second career start.
That followed a winning debut at Thirsk, a performance which assistant trainer Adam Ryan revealed had harboured hopes of a run at the Berkshire track. The Norfolk Stakes is next on the agenda for the Cotai Glory colt.
“Personally, I think you can mark him up for that run,” Ryan said. “Everything went wrong and he still managed dig deep and do what he did.
“But (going to) Ascot, it kind of writes itself. He looked like an Ascot horse when he won at Thirsk and we’ve always liked him.
“It’s a big step up and the National Stakes is a great trial for two-year-olds – I don’t like to use the word trial because they are two-year-olds – but basically it’s the case of if you win there or run well, Ascot has got to be the next stop.
“He will get an entry in the Norfolk and we will go from there.”
One of Hambleton Lodge’s stars who will not be at the Royal meeting is Westow Stakes winner Dickensian.
Ryan did not firm up any plans for the three-year-old son of Pinatubo, but hinted remaining at five furlongs for Goodwood’s King George Stakes could be his next assignment before hopefully returning to York.
“It was a great win in the Westow,” he added. “He did nothing wrong as a two-year-old. He had a lot of near-misses and he put that right at York so we were delighted with him.
“He wasn’t in the races at Royal Ascot because the only three-year-old race is the Commonwealth Cup, so looking at the plan he’ll go where the races are.
“He’s got a lot of speed, he ran well at Goodwood last year in the Molecomb, finishing third on ground he didn’t actually like, so you’d think naturally that could be an option. But there’s a long time between here to then, so we will see what’s around.
“He’s grand. He’s a horse that takes his racing well. I think the ultimate goal – it would be great if we could get there – would be the Nunthorpe, with his form at York.
“Hopefully Goodwood would be the next stop, but we will see what’s around the corner.”
Leave a Reply