Condon assessing weekend target for Laws Of Indices

Molly Hunter
May 18, 2021 10:00 am

Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock could be springboard to Royal Ascot.

Laws Of Indices is pencilled in for a string of high-profile races after a fine performance in the Group Three Goffs Lacken Stakes at Naas on Sunday.

Ken Condon’s colt was beaten by just three quarters of a length in fourth when carrying a 3lb penalty, awarded for his Group Two victory in the Railway Stakes last season.

The performance followed the three-year-old’s fifth-placed run on his seasonal debut, when he lined up in the Leopardstown 2,000 Guineas Trial Stakes and was defeated by Poetic Flare – subsequent winner of the English 1000 Guineas at Newmarket.

The son of Power could head next to the Group Two Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock on Saturday, but Condon has plenty of international engagements in mind should conditions not suit at the Merseyside track.

“We were very pleased with him,” the Kildare trainer said.

“It was a very solid run carrying his penalty, I think had he been without a penalty that would have made a difference to him.

“Timeform see it as the best run of his career so it’s nice to think he’s improved, we felt he had come forward from his first run at Leopardstown.

“To my eye he looked sharper and he broke smartly, which he hasn’t done at all times in the past.

“It was a good run and even when he was passed in the last 50 yards, he was coming back again so it all bodes well.”

Royal Ascot features prominently on the list of probable next steps, with further Group One contests in France also on Condon’s radar.

“He’s got races like the Commonwealth Cup to aim for and he’ll have an entry in the Prix Maurice de Gheest, maybe even the Prix Jean Prat,” he said.

“He’ll be campaigned ambitiously, but he’s a horse that’s very solid and looks to be improving.

“He turns up, and when they always turn up you always have a chance.

“He’s got an entry for the Sandy Lane on Saturday, we’re taking a look at that.

“The ground is soft and the weather is probably going to be something similar to what we’re wanting, he will have an entry there but I won’t know until later in the week when I’ve discussed it with everybody.

“I think if he does go there it will be the Commonwealth Cup next.”