Cracksman to skip France for Ascot finale

Horse Racing

Classy Cracksman repeats Champion success

Racing365
October 5, 2018 11:16 am

Cracksman won’t feature in Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and instead end his racing career in the Champion Stakes on October 20.

The John Gosden-trained four-year-old had initially been teed up to make his return from a mid-season break in this coming weekend’s French Classic at ParisLongchamp, where the Frankel colt has already triumphed this term in the Prix Ganay.

However, owner-breeder Anthony Oppenheimer has always maintained that Cracksman’s participation in the Arc would be down to the weather.

And with little rain forecast, he has decided to pull the plug and instead pitch him into a defence of his Champion Stakes title he won at Ascot 12 months ago.

Oppenheimer said: ‘It’s very sad, as we wanted to run, but we have got to give him the opportunity to show himself at his best.

‘As we’ve got nearer to the weekend, the forecast rain has got less and less.

It might end up pouring down on Sunday morning or something, but we had to make a decision (before Thursday’s declaration stage).

‘If we did declare and then didn’t run, we’d have faced a hefty penalty, I believe, and also it wouldn’t be fair on everyone else who wants to know whether he’s running or not.

‘We’ll go to Ascot now, which we’re delighted to do.

He’s won the race before, it’s still a couple of weeks away, so we’ll see what the ground is like nearer the time.

‘He’ll have to run there anyway as that will be his last race.’