Royal Ascot beckons for Go Bears Go

Loughnane to choose between Norfolk and Coventry for winning debutant.

David Loughnane is likely to keep his powder dry with Go Bears Go and wait until Royal Ascot to run him again.

The Kodi Bear two-year-old was an impressive winning debutant at Ascot on Saturday, justifying his jump in price from GBP 50,000 as a yearling to 150,000 guineas at the Craven Breeze-Up Sale.

Having broken smartly, Go Bears Go was too professional for his rivals over five furlongs – and Loughnane now needs to decide whether to keep him at that trip next month in the Norfolk or move up to six in the Coventry.

“I don’t know yet if he’ll run again, but my initial thought was to go straight to the Royal meeting,” said the Shropshire trainer.

“If he started kicking the door down in the next week then there is the Listed National Stakes at Sandown later this month he could go for. But in my head I’m thinking we’ll go straight there.

“I think he’s going to be a better horse over six furlongs, but we’ll put him in both races at Royal Ascot and see where we are.

“We weren’t heading to Ascot for a day out – we went thinking we had the best horse in the race, but the only question mark was whether he’d go on the softer ground, so it’s nice he handled it.

“We’ve 22 two-year-olds in, and at the moment he’s top of the pile, but we’ve four or five not that far behind him. We took them for a racecourse gallop earlier in the month, and there’d be a few pretty close to him. We’ve got a nice bunch this year.”

Caroline Dale finished third in the Queen Mary last year for Loughnane at 100-1, and proved it was no fluke when third to stablemate Santosha in the Princess Margaret back at Ascot.

“Caroline is back with us, but Santosha stayed with her owner back in Ireland,” said Loughnane.

“Caroline did have a small setback but is back cantering away. There’s a Listed race at Haydock at the end of the month, and we’ll pencil that in at the moment.

“After that we’re looking at the five-furlong handicap at Royal Ascot (Palace of Holyroodhouse).”

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