Rashabar to step up in trip after narrow French defeat

Rashabar is to step up to seven furlongs on his next start, with a 2000 Guineas tilt in May the long-term plan for the Royal Ascot hero.

A shock 80-1 winner of the Coventry Stakes at the Royal meeting, Brian Meehan’s son of Holy Roman Emperor fell agonisingly short of giving his Manton-based handler a third success in the Prix Morny when narrowly failing to reel in Aidan O’Brien’s Whistlejacket at Deauville earlier this month.

However, having finished strongly on the Normandy coast and following encouragement from big-race pilot Sean Levey, his team are keen not only to stretch their colt out in distance but continue campaigning at the highest level, with elite options both in Ireland and France on the radar.

“There’s a fair few options, but we will be sticking in Group One company,” said Sam Sangster, manager for owners Manton Thoroughbreds.

“Sean was absolutely gutted when he got off him in the Morny and felt he was the moral winner. There’s no hiding places though in Group Ones and he is more than worth his place in whichever Group One we run in next.

“He hasn’t turned a hair to be honest and has come back from Deauville the same weight he went over there. He is a very cool horse to deal with.”

Sporting the famous green and blue colours of the late Robert Sangster, the Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes at the Curragh on September 15 is high up on Rashabar’s list of possibilities, as is a trip to ParisLongchamp on Arc weekend for the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere.

Sangster continued: “I had a meeting with Brian and we decided to take a good long look at the National Stakes and we really feel a step up to seven furlongs will suit him.

“He did the quickest sectionals in the final two furlongs of the Prix Morny and just looks like a horse that will benefit from a step up and he should suit the Curragh.

“We also have in mind that the Lagardere is there a little later on. The three races we have in mind are the National Stakes, Lagardere and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and if you were working back from the Breeders’ Cup it would then be one of the others.”

A trip to Del Mar for the Breeders’ Cup has often been mentioned in discussions surrounding Rashabar’s programme but depending on the outcome of his next race, Stateside ambitions may be tempered in order to preserve Classic aspirations next season.

“We feel he is a horse that is not just going to be limited to a two-year-old campaign, he is a horse who is going to keep improving,” Sangster added.

“Whatever happens in his next run we will hopefully be thinking the Guineas is well within his remit after that, and whether or not we go to Del Mar, the steer will be towards the Guineas if we think he’s good enough and at the moment we do think we have the right horse.”