Bayside Boy skips Newmarket for French Guineas

Champagne Stakes winner set to head abroad.

Roger Varian has decided to stick with the original plan and head to Longchamp for the Poule d’Essai des Poulains with his Champagne Stakes winner Bayside Boy.

The New Bay colt followed up that Doncaster victory, where he beat the Queen’s Derby hope Reach For The Moon, with a pair of placed efforts at Group One level in the autumn.

Firstly he was third to Native Trail in the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket and then he returned to Town Moor to fill the same position behind Luxembourg in the Vertem Futurity Trophy.

Bayside Boy was left in the Qipco 2000 Guineas at the five-day stage, but the three-year-old’s name was missing from the final line-up, with his Classic aspirations set on France in a fortnight.

“Bayside Boy is in great form but we’re going to hang on and go to France for the French 2000 Guineas,” said Varian.

Roger Varian File Photo
Roger Varian thinks the French 2000 Guineas is the right race for his Bayside Boy (Mike Egerton/PA)

“We’ve been thinking French Guineas all winter for this horse and it is very easy to get sucked into Newmarket the closer you get to the race, but we are going to stick to our original thoughts.

“We think the Longchamp mile will suit him well, he’s in great form, he could easily have lined up on Saturday at Newmarket, but we will go to France and in two weeks time we will find out then if that is the right call or not.”

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