Noble Mission: Frankel’s brother has begun to fulfil his potential this season
PICTURE: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos), BY SCOTT BURTON7:53AM 26 JUN 2014
TWO of Khalid Abdullah’s leading older horses in training could meet in Sunday’s Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, after Noble Mission and Flintshire topped 11 remaining entries following Wednesday’s forfeit stage.
And racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe said that the team are open to the possibility of pitching the pair against one another if conditions suit.
This season Noble Mission has started to fulfil both his potential and, as a brother to Frankel, the lofty expectations heaped on him, earning a first Group 1 for Lady Cecil when defeating Magician in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh last month.
That capped a hat-trick at or around a mile and a quarter but connections were keen at the time not to rule out a step back up in trip.
No such range of distance options exists for Flintshire, a confirmed mile and a half performer who won last season’s Juddmonte Grand Prix de Paris for Abdullah and trainer Andre Fabre.
The son of Dansili made a fine reappearance when chasing home Cirrus Des Aigles in the Investec Coronation Cup at the start of the month.
“There is a chance they could both run, we’re looking at it for the moment,” said Grimthorpe. “If there was a great deal of rain then Flintshire might not run. If the going stays good then there is a chance they both might run because they both need to.”
Noble Mission remains a 10-1 chance with the sponsors for next Saturday’s Coral-Eclipse and Grimthorpe underlined that the option to wait six days for Sandown remains.
He said: “Noble Mission could still go to the Eclipse.”
Paris has basked in sunshine for most of the last fortnight but there is threat of thundery showers in the region from Friday.
Last year’s Oaks heroine Talent and Marco Botti’s recent German recruit Seismos also feature among the remaining entries, as do the Ger Lyons-trained Chapter Seven and Joseph Murphy’s Euphrasia.
fonte: RacingPost
