No overseas raids for Rohaan but summer campaign beckons

Minor setback has prevented trips to Saudi and Dubai.

David Evans will give crack sprinter Rohaan plenty of time before unleashing him in the summer following a setback.

Bought for 20,000 guineas at the 2020 Tattersalls Autumn horses-in-training sale, the Mayson gelding has proven to be a real money-spinner, winning nine times for Evans.

He has climbed from basement-level handicaps on the all-weather to securing back-to-back success in the Wokingham at Royal Ascot and a Group Two victory at Haydock.

Plans were hatched to head to both Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia, but those had to be shelved by the Monmouthshire handler.

Evans said: “We have had a little setback, so we won’t be going anywhere at the moment.

“Hopefully he’ll be OK. We probably haven’t missed a lot going aboard. It would probably have done him more good staying at home.

“It is just a little setback. It was nothing drastic. It was just enough to stop and we’ll start again.”

Winner of over GBP 400,000 from his 28 starts, Rohaan was almost retired before striking late at Royal Ascot under Ryan Moore, having previously suffered a dip in form.

In the end, the Kieran McCabe-owned gelding had a fruitful campaign last season, adding the Group Three Bengough Stakes at Ascot to his Wokingham triumph.

He was also placed in the Sprint Cup at Haydock and signed off in October with a close-up fourth to Kinross in the British Champions Sprint.

Though starting last term in the 1895 Duke of York Stakes, Evans is keen to swerve the Knavesmire this term.

He said: “He doesn’t like going to York, so he won’t be going there. It is too fast a track for him.

“It would be nice if we can get a run into him and then go to Ascot.

“He won’t qualify for the Wokingham at the moment (too high in the handicap). Let’s see what happens and then play it by ear. We’ve got time with him, that’s the main thing.

“These things happen and it’s best to lay off rather than keep going. It has to be done sometime.”

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