Cups dream for Crystal Delight
Harry Eustace has revealed that Saturday week’s Ebor Handicap (1m 6f) at York will determine whether Crystal Delight (New Approach) and Ziggy (Sixties Icon) will join their stablemate Docklands (Massaat) on the plane to the spring carnival.
Eustace told Racing.com that Crystal Delight shapes as a more likely traveller off the back of a winning season in which his rating has jumped to 105.
“Australia has been something we’ve had in the back of our mind for Crystal Delight, as long as plans went the way we hoped they would,” Eustace said.
“He’s rated 105, he likes fast ground and he’s got plenty of pace. The first couple of races went to plan but his last run was a bit of a non-event.
“The Ebor being a win-and-you’re-in race for the Melbourne Cup, it allows us to see where we head with him but even if he were to run well without winning, we might still consider getting him qualified for the Caulfield Cup.
“Whether he came down and ran in the Caulfield Cup and something other than the Melbourne Cup is possibly more likely than actually aiming him for the Melbourne Cup. But I do think his style of racing and the racing down there [Australia] will suit him.”
The OTI Racing-owned Docklands, meanwhile, is set to line up in a star-studded renewal of the Juddmonte International Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) at York on Wednesday for which a total of 16 remain in contention.
Runner-up in the Queen Anne Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) at Royal Ascot on his first start in elite-level company, Docklands is in line to clash with the likes of Epsom Derby (Gr 1, 1m 4f) hero City Of Troy (Justify), along with Ambiente Friendly (Gleneagles), who finished second in the Derby, and a two-pronged French challenge in the shape of impressive King Edward VII (Gr 2, 1m 4f) winner Calandagan (Gleneagles) and Zarakem (Zarak), who will bid to give Jerome Reynier the first British Group 1 of his burgeoning training career.
A strong older team includes the likes of Alfaila (Dark Angel) and White Birch (Ulysses) and while Japan’s Durezza (Duramente) is on course to add extra international flavour.
Irish Derby (Gr 1, 1m 4f) winner Los Angeles remains among the entries but he is expected to instead line up in the preceding Great Voltigeur Stakes (Gr 2, 1m 4f) having been supplemented for the race at a cost of £20,000 (approx, AU$38,800) on Thursday.