Prince’s return has Fellowes excited
Globetrotter out to earn first Group win on home turf in Sagaro Stakes with Cup plans still in place
Racing in Britain is back and so is Prince Of Arran (Shirocco), with the Charlie Fellowes-trained globetrotter set to contest the Sagaro Stakes (Gr 3, 2m ½ f) on the all-weather track at Newcastle tonight.
Despite earning almost $3 million in prize-money across his 40-start career, Prince Of Arran has never won a Group race in his home country. Fellowes, though, believes the seven-year-old is primed to break the hoodoo tonight.
“He’s in really good form. Actually, he’s in as good a form as I’ve ever seen him,” Fellowes told ANZ Bloodstock News. “His work has been exceptional and I’m really looking forward to it.
“The only thing missing off his CV is a Group win in England so I’d really, really like to knock that off the list and if he’s going to do it at any track, Newcastle will be one of the tracks he’ll do it at because it’s flat, it’s round, he loves the surface and he’s run exceptionally well there before so I think he’s got a load in his favour.
“He has to carry a penalty for his win in the Geelong Cup which is a little bit of a pain but I don’t think there’s much between six or seven of them (runners) and it is a cracking race but he’s in as good of form as I could have him.”
All being well, Prince Of Arran will then run in the Gold Cup (Gr 1, 2m 4f) at Royal Ascot on June 18, before having for a short break and targeting the September Stakes (Gr 3, 1m 4f) at Kempton to hopefully prepare him for a third tilt at the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m).
As soon as Prince Of Arran finished second in last year’s Melbourne Cup, Fellowes declared that the gelding will be back for this year’s edition of the race, but the coronavirus pandemic could disallow that.
However the Newmarket trainer is remaining positive and will continue to plan for the staying feature until he is told otherwise.
“I’ve always said until I’m told I’m officially not allowed to come down, I’m going to train him as if the Melbourne Cup is the race again this year,” Fellowes continued. “I think giving him a little break after Ascot, two and a half miles around there will take a fair bit out of him, so that’s what we’re going to do.
“You see Wesley Ward is over in England with a string of horses so I’m hoping that we’ll be able to do the same thing and send horses to Australia.
“In what format that is, whether I’m not allowed to send a person with him and I need to find someone at the other end to look after him and keep an eye on his training, I don’t know but I’m waiting to hear on that note.
“I’ve heard from Paul Bloodworth and I’ve heard from Greg Carpenter. Obviously they are very keen that we get down there and they are doing everything they can, but like everything at the moment it’s all very much up in the air, we have no idea.
“But they have definitely been in contact and they’re trying to keep us posted with as much as they know but they don’t know much at the moment.”
Until Monday, British racing had been on hold since March 17 due to the pandemic and there was no official green light from the government to return until last Saturday, leaving trainers to keep their horses in work without an idea when they were going to be able to run.
Fellowes said it has been a difficult time but he believes it provided a true test to his colleagues.
“It’s been really interesting,” he said. “It’s been tough, it’s been a real challenge. I think it’s been a good test of the trainer and it’s been really interesting to see which yards are up and running after the break.
“I’m not very hard on my horses so this might have suited my yard because we don’t gallop them a huge amount, so I very much kept them ticking over and the big colts have done plenty of work, the fillies have been very happy just cantering away and they don’t take much getting fit.
“They seem alright, we had a winner yesterday (Wednesday) and we’ve got a massive weekend this weekend so it will be a lot of my best horses running and it will be a good indicator about where we are at.”
Like Prince Of Arran, Fellowes is yet to land a Group win in England but this weekend he will also present King Ottokar (Motivator) in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes (Gr 3, 1m 2f) as well as Jeremiah (Kheleyf) who lines up in the Sagaro Stakes alongside the Melbourne Cup hopeful.