Rain puts Arrest firmly in contention for Leger honours

Former Derby favourite returned to winning ways at Newbury last month.

John and Thady Gosden’s Arrest is poised to throw down a Classic challenge in the Betfred St Leger, with wet weather in the Yorkshire area helping to put conditions in his favour.

The Frankel colt entered the Leger picture when winning the Geoffrey Freer Stakes at Newbury in August, a length-and-half-success that came on good to soft ground and signalled a return to winning ways for a horse who was sent off favourite for the Derby having impressed when the rain was falling in the Chester Vase.

An Indian summer threatened to put his chance of lining up on Town Moor in jeopardy, but the heavens have since opened and Doncaster was good to soft, soft in places on Tuesday afternoon.

Barry Mahon of owners Juddmonte said: “He’s in good shape, I think John and Thady are both happy with how he’s training.

“We’re just keeping an eye on the weather forecast because it looks to be changing a bit, it looked a bit unlikely that we’d be running last week but I think they’ve had a bit more rain than was anticipated and there looks to be more to come.

Arrest winning the Geoffrey Freer Stakes at Newbury
Arrest winning the Geoffrey Freer Stakes at Newbury (Andrew Matthews/PA)

“At the minute we’re very much on track for Saturday, we’ll just monitor the ground later in the week.”

While the final British Classic of the season was under consideration early for Arrest, his training team now look particularly well-stocked for the race with Gregory the current favourite and Middle Earth a supplementary entry.

Frankie Dettori, who has ridden Arrest in all of his starts this season, is engaged to partner Gregory, the horse he rode to land the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot.

With the race still taking shape and conditions likely to change between now and Saturday, Arrest’s rider remains unconfirmed.

Mahon added: “I asked John that question this morning and he said he’d go away and think about it over the next 24 hours and come up with a plan.

“I suppose the ground could dictate what Frankie will do, if it came up soft then he might change his mind, I don’t know.

“We’ll have to see in the next 24 hours what John and Thady want to do.”

Follow us on Twitter racing365dotcom and like our Facebook page.

Latest