Falakeyah to Miss Diane; Ground Key for Anmaat at Ascot

[Wandering Eyes]

The unbeaten Falakeyah (New Bay), one of the leading fancies for Sunday's G1 Prix de Diane, will miss the race as she continues to return to form following a dirty scope.

The Shadwell homebred, from the family of Group 1 winners Baaeed and Hukum, pleased Owen Burrows in her work on Tuesday morning but the trainer has opted to take a cautious approach.

Shadwell's racing manager Angus Gold said, “She scoped dirty two weeks ago, we treated her, she missed a gallop, and she worked this morning. Jim [Crowley] was delighted with her and said she worked really well, but Owen said she had a good blow afterwards and she would have a long day's travel over [to France] on Friday and it's just not a perfect preparation for a Classic. Unfortunately it's just bad timing.”

With regard to the option of supplementing Falakeyah for the Coronation Stakes at Ascot a week on Friday, he added, “We'll sit back and look at all the options. It wasn't going to be such a question until Lake Victoria came out as we thought we weren't going to beat her, but that's opened the race up a bit. But the same rules apply – it's a Group 1 obviously and we won't supplement unless we're absolutely convinced that she's bouncing.”

Gold and Burrows will also be on weather watch for Anmaat, who is entered in next Wednesday's Prince of Wales's Stakes at the track where he defeated Calandagan in last year's Champion Stakes. The seven-year-old son of Awtaad finished a close second on his seasonal reappearance in the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup.

Gold said of the dual Group 1 winner, “He's a star and he ran a huge race the other day. I love the way he travelled through the race and cruised into it before just taking a blow in the last 100 yards, and it was a tough horse, Los Angeles, who beat him.

“Owen says he has come out of the race well but it will just be a case of how fast the ground gets for next week. If it's proper fast ground we might have to have a think about it because he's seven now, and he's a very important horse for us for the rest of the season. With what he did last autumn, if he can do that again this year, it would transform our season, so we've just got to do everything right by him.

“They always do a good job at Ascot and the fast ground horses want fast ground, so I'm not going to make a fuss, but he wouldn't want it rattling.”

Shadwell's Elwateen (Dubawi), trained by Saeed Bin Suroor, ran seventh in the Oaks behind Minnie Hauk on Friday having been a promising fourth in the 1,000 Guineas. 

Issuing an update on her wellbeing, Gold added,”I spoke to Saeed yesterday and he said she seems fine, so it's a bit of a mystery. She just ran a very flat race for whatever reason. It wasn't just the trip, so we are back to the drawing board and we'll let her tell us when she's bouncing again. I wouldn't write off going a mile and a quarter with her.”

 

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