Al Kazeem: Newbury entry looks likely option

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AL KAZEEM, the triple Group 1 winner of 2013 who returned to training earlier this year having proved subfertile at stud, looks set to resume his racing career on Saturday in the Listed Doom Bar (Steventon) Stakes at Newbury.

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The six-year-old established himself as one of the leading middle-distance performers last year winning the Tattersalls Gold Cup, Prince Of Wales’s Stakes and Coral-Eclipse. Creditable efforts at York and Leopardstown followed, while his campaign ended with a respectable sixth in the Arc.

The weekend’s assignment would represent a marked drop in class for Al Kazeem, who escapes a penalty for last summer’s exertions, and trainer Roger Charlton is keen to give his charge the green light before focussing on a return to Group company.

Charlton said: “The current plan is to run. Hopefully the ground will be good, but we’ll deal with that nearer the time. The autumn targets are his big-race plans, this is just his prep race, but we’ll get Newbury out of the way first and see how he gets on there.”

Al Kazeem is entered in the Juddmonte International and Qipco Irish Champion Stakes, contests in which he finished third and second respectively last term.

Tiggy Wiggy, a fast-finishing second behind Anthem Alexander in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot, is the star name amongst 66 contenders for the Weatherbys Super Sprint on the same card. She is one of seven that could potentially represent Richard Hannon whose father Richard won the contest a record-breaking seven times.

Hannon snr said on Monday: “Tiggy Wiggy will probably be our best. She picked up a penalty at Sandown, taking her up to 9st 1lb, but she would still probably start favourite.”

The £250,000 pot has drawn a drove of entries from leading trainers, Richard Fahey topping the list with 18 representatives.

Market Rasen host their feature raceday on the same afternoon, headed by the Listed Betfred Summer Plate and JP McManus, who owned the 2009 winner Nostringsattached, looks intent on staging a repeat bid. His Vulcanite, Rum And Butter, It’s A Gimme and Dursey Sound are among the 20 entries for the £50,000 contest.

fonte: RacingPost