Hong Kong in December viewed as a potentially ‘massive’ date for Kinross

Marc Chan’s pride and joy could provide the perfect send-off for Frankie Dettori.

Kinross has the defence of his Prix de la Foret crown in his sights as the first of three key objectives for the back-end of the season.

Ralph Beckett’s ultra-consistent six-year-old bagged the 10th success of his career as he followed up his Lennox Stakes victory in style to win the City of York Stakes for the second year running on the Knavesmire.

Kinross’ victory spearheaded a fantastic treble for both Beckett and owner Marc Chan on Saturday, and connections now have their eye on securing further riches over the coming months.

Three major races have been highlighted for Kinross before the end of the year, with the son of Kingman set to return to ParisLongchamp on October 1 in search of a Foret double before taking another shot at conquering America in November after Kinross finished a brave third behind Modern Games in the Breeders’ Cup Mile in 2022.

Frankie Dettori jumping for joy from Kinross at York
Frankie Dettori jumping for joy from Kinross at York (Mike Egerton/PA)

After that all eyes will be on Sha Tin on December 10 where Kinross will bid to give his big-race pilot Frankie Dettori the perfect send-off before retirement on the home soil of his Hong Kong-based owner.

“Kinross will probably go straight to France, then the Breeders’ Cup and then the race in Hong Kong, they are the most important races for him,” said Chan’s racing manager, Jamie McCalmont.

Kinross also holds entries for both Doncaster’s Betfred Park Stakes (September 16) and the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes (Ascot, October 21) he won last year as well as Haydock’s Betfair Sprint Cup on September 9.

And although his Kimpton Down handler may elect to run Kinross in those events, getting the gelding to Hong Kong while he is at the peak of his powers will be the number on priority.

“Ralph knows the horse inside out for sure and it would be his call,” added McCalmont on Kinross potentially taking up his other entries.

“But it would be great to get the horse to Hong Kong for both Marc and for Frankie. For Marc to have this horse run in Hong Kong in December is massive for him.

“He’s six now and there’s no real time limit on when we would stop with him but as soon as he showed any ailments or loss of form, I think that would really decide that. There’s no reason whey he wouldn’t race for another two seasons, though.

“He’s such a lovely character and everyone adores him. He loves the attention and he loves to know he’s the king. It’s not great in my position to get emotionally attached to horses, but it is hard to not get attached to him.”

Kinross’ victory at York may have grabbed all the headlines at the weekend, but it was just one third of a phenomenal afternoon for his owner with Group One-winning juveniles Lezoo – whom Chan owns in partnership with Andrew Rosen – and Angel Bleu both returning to their very best, at Newmarket and Goodwood respectively.

Connections were thrilled to see them thrive on track as they combined for a near 50-1 treble, with each horse playing its own part to perfection.

“All three winners were as special as the other and if you said which winner meant more, all three were as equally pleasing for different reasons,” continued McCalmont.

“From a business perspective Kinross winning at York was massive because of the prize-money and there should be interest in Angel Blue now – he’s got to have some attraction as a stallion. That’s the fourth Group race he’s won and he’s won two Group Ones and two Group Two races.

“You quite often see this where a horse is a very good two-year-old and things seem to go wrong at three. But if you look at his three-year-old career he was beaten less than five lengths by Baaeed at Goodwood on ground he didn’t like and he came out of the race with an injury. That’s not exactly form to be laughed at. He’s clearly a better horse around a bend as much as he is on soft ground.”

Meanwhile, Lezoo could have earnt a return to Group One company for the Betfair Sprint Cup having shown the talent that saw her scoop Cheveley Park Stakes honours at two is still in place when successful in the Hopeful Stakes.

McCalmont added: “We could easily go to Haydock, we will see. People were beginning to question whether she had trained on or not, so to prove she has is great because myself and Ralph, we never doubted it.

“She’s a very valuable horse and will probably come up for sale at Tattersalls at the end of the year.”

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