Field Of Gold will bypass York’s Juddmonte International Stakes as he continues his recovery from the setback sustained when suffering a shock defeat at Goodwood last week.
John and Thady Gosden’s Irish 2,000 Guineas and Royal Ascot hero was discovered to be lame after tasting defeat for just the second time this season in the Sussex Stakes and although there are encouraging signs in his recuperation, a step up to 10 furlongs on the Knavesmire has been ruled out by his team.
The son of Kingman will undergo X-rays on Wednesday which will give a clearer indication of the prognosis, with Juddmonte’s European racing manager Barry Mahon saying: “The horse is doing well and was back sound, which is good.
“He’s got a little bit of swelling in his fetlock but John and Thady are much happier with him so the plan is to do the X-ray on Wednesday. They’ve just pushed it back a day, as the longer you can leave it, the clearer the picture is.
RM Block
“That will give us some more insight and if the X-ray is clear, we can hopefully start back into some light exercise towards the end of the week or early next week.
“York though is definitely not going to happen at this stage.”
Having dazzled when claiming Classic honours in Ireland and scorching to St James’s Palace Stakes victory at the Royal meeting, there has been plenty of conversation over whether Field Of Gold will try to repeat those heroics up in trip or continue to be the standout performer of the year at eight furlongs.
The Juddmonte star holds entries in both the Prix du Moulin (Longchamp, September 7th) and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Ascot, October 18th) at a mile later in the campaign, while he could yet test the waters up in distance in Leopardstown’s Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes on September 13th.
However, the colt’s name was notably missing from the entries for the Qipco Champion Stakes over further on the same afternoon as his engagement in the QEII, with race planning currently taking a back seat until one of the season’s top performers returns to full fitness.
Mahon added: “It was the plan pre-Goodwood to stick at a mile for the time being and obviously there has been no chat about potential races since Goodwood. We’re just going to have to let the dust settle and let him get back into exercise and then when he is fit make a plan from there.
“You are getting into that time of year when there is not an abundance of opportunities and there is the Moulin, QEII or you go up to a mile and a quarter for the races at that distance.
“So I wouldn’t say there is a huge amount of options, but we’ll just wait and see and let the horse tell us.”
While the Gosdens might not have Field Of Gold in the Juddmonte International, they still have a very strong contender in Ombudsman.
“He won the Prince of Wales’s first time in a Group One and showed he’s up to that level. The Eclipse, again he ran a very good race, beaten by a top-class three-year-old [Aidan O’Brien’s Delacroix] coming through,” said Thady Gosden.
“He’s come out of that race well, had a little freshen up and [is] heading to the Juddmonte International hopefully.
“He’s such a genuine horse, has got the speed required and hopefully can run a good one there.
“It’s a career-defining race for a lot of horses. If you win the Juddmonte International it certainly means a lot, [with the] depth of the field and the quality to it. And then, of course, York’s a very fair track; so often the best horse wins and it’s something that everyone aspires to.”
