Charlton monitoring Classic situation for Quadrilateral

PA Sport Reporters
April 28, 2020 12:45 pm

1000 Guineas hope pleasing at home while racing is on hold.

Roger Charlton is keeping a close eye on developments on the Classic front this season as the unbeaten Quadrilateral waits for her chance in the Qipco 1000 Guineas.

The Fillies’ Mile winner has headed the ante-post market for the Newmarket showpiece all through the winter, but when she will go for glory remains up in the air, although a “best-case scenario” from the British Horseracing Authority outlined provisional plans for the Guineas to be staged in early June and the Derby and Oaks in early July.

The 1000 Guineas should have been run this weekend and regardless of the current suspension of racing, the Beckhampton trainer reports his charge to be doing well.

Quadrilateral got up to collar Powerful Breeze in the Fillies' Mile at Newmarket — Quadrilateral got up to collar Powerful Breeze in the Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket (Tess Derry/PA)

Charlton told Sky Sports Racing: “I think she’s wintered very well really. She came into training quite late last year and she was always a well-grown, strong filly. She hasn’t actually grown much, but she has put on weight, she weighs 500 kilos, which is quite a lot for a three-year-old filly.

“She’s a very attractive, easy to train filly and obviously her races progressed and she toughed it out I thought in the Group One at the end of the year. Probably a furlong out she wasn’t going to win, then we got a lucky break up the rail and clearly a mile plus will suit her this year.”

Asked if the delay to the Classic was a hindrance or perhaps a potential benefit in terms of further maturing, Charlton said: “It’s a difficult question. We’re all in a very changing world, not only horse racing but everything else, and we’ve really got to the stage now where the horses are ticking over.

The @RogerCharlton trained Quadrilateral maintains her unbeaten record with victory under @Jason7Watson1 in the Group One Fillies’ Mile @NewmarketRace pic.twitter.com/E2icHMqoEn
— Graham Clark (@GrahamClark85) October 11, 2019

“If it’s rescheduled to be on June 5 or whatever it is, that is still five and a half weeks away, so there’s no rush or panic. As to whether we would have had a better chance earlier on, I honestly don’t know. I think it’s difficult to tell.

“I think what’s interesting is what comes, whether we’re allowed to go to Ireland or France or vice versa, because interestingly at the original entry stage, which has now been scrapped, I think there were 71 fillies entered but only 13 of them were in the UK, so 80 per cent of the entries in the original 1000 Guineas came from Ireland and I think possibly one in France.

“The race may change, we just don’t know.”