Cross Counter Tackles Goodwood Cup

[Wandering Eyes]

Charlie Appleby believes a drop down in trip will play to the strengths of G1 Melbourne Cup winner Cross Counter (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) when he renews rivalries with Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the G1Qatar Goodwood Cup S. The Newmarket trainer will bypass an outing in the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. with the 4-year-old in favour of a shot at the Group 1 prize on July 30.

After finishing fourth behind Stradivarius in last month’s Ascot Gold Cup, Cross Counter will seek to turn that form around and stop John Gosden’s 5-year-old becoming just the second horse to win the two-mile contest three times after Double Trigger (Ire) (Ela-Mana-Mou {Ire}).

Appleby said, “Cross Counter has come out of the Ascot Gold Cup well, and the plan is not to run in the King George but head straight to the Goodwood Cup. We wanted to drop him in on his first time over the 2 1/2 miles. They went strong enough early on, but he was not in the best position when they got racing.

“He still showed plenty of class, the way he came into the race, and the drop back to two miles on a track he holds the mile-and-a-half course record on is positive.”

A return to Deauville may be on the cards, meanwhile, for stablemate and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Space Blues (Ire) after he found only fellow ‘Rising Star’ Too Darn Hot (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) too strong in the G1 Prix Jean Prat on Sunday–with Appleby earmarking the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest as a potential target on Aug. 4. The son of Dubawi (Ire) is also under consideration for the Oct. 6 G1 Qatar Prix de la Foret at ParisLongchamp.

He said, “He is a tough little horse, and we might look at the Maurice de Gheest with him if he is showing the right signs because he has had a busy early part of the season. If we decide not to go to the Maurice de Gheest we will work back from the Foret.”

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