Able Friend completed a straightforward barrier trial assignment this morning, Tuesday 2 June, as trainer John Moore continued the five-year-old’s preparations for the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes (1600m) at Royal Ascot two weeks today.
The big chestnut will depart for England on Saturday ahead of his 16 June engagement and both his trainer and his jockey, Joao Moreira, are of the view that the world’s current joint highest rated horse is right where he needs to be.
“Joao said he’s 85-90% there now and with two weeks up our sleeves it’s just right on schedule with how I’ve trained him for his previous big races. All in all I’m very pleased with the outcome of that trial. He’s at the end of his prep so when we get to England it’ll just be a case of fine-tuning him,” said Moore.
Able Friend camped at the tail of the eight runners and travelled smoothly across the Sha Tin turf. After turning into the straight, the gelding made steady ground down the stands’ side rail, slightly apart from the other runners, as Moreira allowed him to roll through the climax of the 1600m trial with zero pressure. The Shamardal gelding, a four-time G1 winner this season, crossed the line a short-head second behind the local G3 winner Packing Llaregyb in a time of 1m 37.74s.
“He did that nicely, he’s done nothing wrong and I was delighted with how he travelled. I was actually very happy he didn’t trial in an outstanding manner. That means he is heading to his best when we need him to be. He’s done extremely well and I think he’s as good as or even better than when he won the Champions Mile, so I’m going to play safe and go with he’s as good as,” said Moreira.
The Brazilian’s only concern heading into the elite contest down Ascot’s famous straight mile is couched in the uncertainty of whether or not the horse will flourish after travelling half-way around the world, with a transit time of about 21 hours. He has no worries about the horse coping with the idiosyncrasies of a new racing environment.
“He’s the type of horse that whatever you try to teach him, from the top, he just picks it up right away,” said the Brazilian. “He’s a very smart, intelligent type of horse and I think, being so professional, he will take it easily. The thing is that it’s his first trip overseas from Hong Kong and that’s the only thing that concerns me, but, at the same time, I’m confident that he can handle it because he is so professional, he’s sharp and he’ll know what he’s there for. I’m looking forward to it.”
As for the opposition, Moreira is not taking his rivals lightly, especially Solow, the French star who blew away his opponents when winning the G1 Dubai Turf (1800m) in March.
“Based on Solow’s win in Dubai he looks like he’s the main danger to our horse but obviously we’ve got to respect the other horses in the race. But at the same time I’m full of confidence for my horse, he’s been good to me and I have a lot of faith in him.”
Moore expressed his gratitude to the Hong Kong Jockey Club for staging the unscheduled mile turf trial to aid Able Friend’s training for the Queen Anne.
“I’m very grateful to the Jockey Club for putting on this mile, it was very necessary to make sure that we go into the Queen Anne with a horse at the top of his game. We’ll wait to see how he is after he cools down and he’ll be trotted up this afternoon,” he said.
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Photo 1:
Photo 1, 2:
Able Friend (near the rail), with Joao Moreira on board, takes part in a 1600m grass trial at Sha Tin racecourse on Tuesday morning prior to his departure for England this weekend.
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Photo 2
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