Cash team taking patient approach with QEII a possible goal

Colt missed French Derby run but has long-term Ascot aim.

Exciting three-year-old Cash will be saved for a late-season campaign – with the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot on Champions Day a likely target – after picking up an injury.

The David Simcock-trained Shamardal colt has had just two starts in his career and looked a top prospect when powering home under Jamie Spencer to finish a short-head runner-up to Westover in the Classic Trial at Sandown in April.

That form was well and truly franked in the Derby when the winner stayed on in eye-catching fashion to finish third behind Desert Crown.

However, the Earle Mack-owned grey, who broke his maiden at the first time of asking over a mile at Newmarket on his sole start as a juvenile, missed his intended engagement in the French Derby at Chantilly and will now be given time by his Newmarket handler.

Mack’s British-based racing manager, Anthony Burke, said: “He has had a slight injury. We thought he was a bit off-colour, but it was a slight injury and it is not going to hold him back.

“Because we think a lot of him, we don’t want to run on really fast ground and are going to give him a bit of a break.

“So, we are going to aim him in the autumn, from about August onwards, and he is just having a bit of a break. There was a slight injury that kept him out of the French Derby, so rather than pushing him, we will bring him back as a fresh horse.

“He will still run in Earle Mack’s colours and we will look at the QEII – that is a race we would have in mind.”

Though Cash was entered at Epsom, he was withdrawn before the final declaration stage, with a trip to Chantilly preferred.

However, connections feel that he has shown plenty of speed and races like the QEII over Ascot’s stiff mile, may ideally suit him.

Burke continued: “We are not 100 per cent sure of his trip. We are thinking that he is a miler to a mile and two (furlongs) horse. It may prove he gets further in time, but David (Simcock) is convinced he has a lot more speed than we think he has.

Connections feel Cash (second right) will be better next season
Connections feel Cash (second right) will be better next season (Tim Goode/PA)

“We think a track with a long mile will suit him. He is a horse we want a bit of longevity with and whatever he does this year is a bonus. We won’t go to town with him this year.

“It is a very minor injury that kept him out and we don’t want to risk him on very fast summer ground, which we are likely to get from now on, and he would not be ready in time for Ascot.

“He likes good ground and as he showed last year at Newmarket, he can handle it with a bit of ease. So it makes sense to have a fresh horse going into the autumn.”

Burke also had news about the Mack-owned War Horse, who narrowly failed to follow up his recent Sandown win in going down by three-quarters of a length to Swilcan Bridge in a 10-furlong Epsom handicap on Derby day.

“He ran a nice race,” said Burke of the Marco Botti trainee. “We like War Horse a lot and we think he will progress throughout the year, and the further he goes, the better.

“He will be entered in a big handicap at Newmarket’s July Festival.

“At the moment, he is handicapper going through the gears. We actually need more weight on him and can’t get it.

“We only got raised 1lb for finishing third at Epsom. To go to Ascot, you need to be rated in the 90s, but he is 88 at the moment. We shouldn’t complain. When you want it you don’t get it and when you don’t want it, you do.”

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