Fox Tal has sights set on Royal Ascot date

Nick Grant
May 26, 2020 6:30 pm

Andrew Balding outlines options at next month’s feature.

A number of options are on the table for the reappearance of Champion Stakes fourth Fox Tal at Royal Ascot.

The Andrew Balding-trained colt is one of the more intriguing prospects for the season ahead, having returned from almost a year off to score in a conditions race at the St Leger meeting and progressing from there to give a creditable account in Group One company on Champions Day.

Balding also has the Royal meeting in mind for Fox Chairman, who was runner-up in the Hampton Court Stakes 12 months ago.

He said: “Fox Chairman would be ready to go next week and we’ve looked at the possibility of running him in the Group Three at Haydock (Brigadier Gerard Stakes), but I think he will probably end up going straight to Ascot, as will Fox Tal.

“Fox Tal will go for either the Prince of Wales’s or the Wolferton, or even the Hardwicke. We’ve got three choices there and a number of choices with Fox Chairman as well.

“They are both due to go for a racecourse gallop this week and we’ll go straight to Ascot I would have thought.”

One horse not on the Kingsclere team for Ascot is King’s Lynn, who garnered much attention when triumphing in a valuable sales race at Doncaster in the colours of the Queen.

Balding said: “King’s Lynn sadly just had a setback. He’s back in full work now, but he had a little niggle about six weeks ago, so probably we won’t be looking at Ascot, we’ll be looking later in the year.

“But he’s an exciting horse.”