Gosden indicates Ascot is possible swansong for Palace Pier

Nick Robson
August 18, 2021 3:45 pm

‘It will probably be Champions Day and then off to stud.’

John Gosden has intimated Palace Pier is likely to only run once more before heading off to stud.

The four-year-old won the Prix Jacques le Marois for a second successive year on Sunday, taking his career record to nine wins from 10 starts.

Palace Pier holds two entries on Champions Day at Ascot, in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes over a mile – the race in which he suffered his only defeat last year – and the Champion Stakes over 10 furlongs.

“I told everyone why he couldn’t run in the Sussex as he was quite ill,” Gosden told talkSPORT.

What a special racehorse! Palace Pier and @FrankieDettori go back-to-back in the Group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois for John and Thady Gosden at @fgdeauville pic.twitter.com/Cp9zASNR5Q
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) August 15, 2021

“We just managed to get to the race, he would have been 80-odd per cent ready, he was 10 days short – so two pieces of work really.

“He was on the wing so a little bit out on his own. He went a length up and then sort of thought he’d done his job, but Kevin (Manning on runner-up Poetic Flare) did a clever job under that rail, going on the quicker ground and was coming back at him.

“The class of Palace Pier got him through, as Frankie (Dettori) said. We were thrilled to win off an inadequate prep.

“We’ll see where we go, it will probably be Champions Day and then off to stud.

“I mentioned 10 furlongs as a possibility and he is in both races, but if it’s very soft it would be unlikely. If it’s good then it would be fascinating, he’d have nothing to lose.”