Boughey eyeing Santa Anita assignment for Missed The Cut

Grade One target on the radar for Royal Ascot winner.

George Boughey is looking forward to seeing his Royal Ascot hero Missed The Cut head on his travels next year, with a potential trip to America among the options under consideration.

Following Pontefract maiden and Salisbury novice wins, the three-year-old completed his hat-trick in the Golden Gates Handicap at the Royal meeting in June under New Zealand-born rider James McDonald.

The Quality Road colt disappointed on his next appearance in the Prix Guillaume d’Ornano at Deauville, but bounced back to make a successful all-weather debut in last month’s Churchill Stakes at Lingfield.

Boughey is keen to test Missed The Cut’s powers at the highest level in 2023 and is already eyeing up a possible run on dirt at Santa Anita in March.

“He’s just training away. He’s a stakes winner now and won’t run again this year,” said the trainer.

“There’s a chance that he could go to America. There’s a race called the Santa Anita Handicap on March 4, which is a Grade One on dirt.

“We’ll see, but he’s doing very well physically and I always said to Bill Farish and the guys at Lane’s End (part-owners) that I didn’t want to over-race him this year but I wanted to make him a stakes winner, which we have.

“There’s a lot of good horses that have flourished at four, he’s still a big baby and all the options are open.

“He’s on the list for Dubai and I think we’ve got to treat him like a good horse and all those top 10-furlong Grade Ones around the world next year will hopefully be where we’re looking at.”

Another Boughey inmate set to have her passport stamped in the coming weeks is Perdika, who notched a fourth successive win in a Kempton nursery earlier this week.

While All-Weather Championships Finals Day at Newcastle is an obvious target, the youngster is first bound for Meydan.

“She’s probably going to go to Dubai for the winter,” Boughey added.

“She could come back for Finals Day, but we’ll see. She’s already had enough qualifying runs to get her into the race on Finals Day if we wanted and a stiff six there (Newcastle) could suit her.

“She’s due to fly to Dubai on the 29th of this month and can go for those three-year-old fillies’ races.

“I’ve never run her on turf, but she worked well on turf before she ran for us and I’d see her as a typical horse to take out there for the winter.”

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