WHILE the dream match-up of racing's unbeaten stars Black Caviar and Frankel will not eventuate, at least one Australian horse is expected to tackle England's champion at Royal Ascot's opening in seven days, reports Andrew Eddy in The Age (www.theage.com.au) His report says: Darley Australia's general manager, Henry Plumptre, said yesterday Caulfield Guineas winner Helmet was likely to run up against Frankel in the group 1 Queen Anne Stakes over 1600 metres at Ascot next Tuesday. ''They are stil
WHILE the dream match-up of racing's unbeaten stars Black Caviar and Frankel will not eventuate, at least one Australian horse is expected to tackle England's champion at Royal Ascot's opening in seven days, reports Andrew Eddy in The Age (www.theage.com.au)
His report says: Darley Australia's general manager, Henry Plumptre, said yesterday Caulfield Guineas winner Helmet was likely to run up against Frankel in the group 1 Queen Anne Stakes over 1600 metres at Ascot next Tuesday.
''They are still trying to work out his best trip but he's impressing the boys over there [England] that he's more like a miler than a sprinter,'' Plumptre said. ''I don't think they'd want to run him in the sprints and so the Queen Anne is looming large for him.''
Helmet is coming off his career-worst run when he finished a distant 12th in the UAE Derby in Dubai in late March, but Plumptre said the colt was working a lot stronger away from Dubai's artificial track.
''The plan is for him to race on for the boss [Sheikh Mohammed] over there for the next year and then probably come back to Australia for the 2013 spring breeding season.''
Helmet and stablemate Sepoy dominated the two and three-year-old ranks for colts in Australia and it seems Australian breeders will get the chance to send their mares to Sepoy this spring as Plumptre confirmed the horse would have just one run to end his racetrack career and that would be in the July Cup in Newmarket next month.