Caballo De Mar eyes Group 1 double

SAINT-CLOUD George Scott is confident that his breakthrough Group 1 hero Caballo De Mar will make a fist of his return to ParisLongchamp to contest the Prix Royal-Oak on Oct 26.

Now owned by Victorious Forever having been purchased from the Blue Star Racing Syndicate for a private fee, Caballo De Mar has been one of the stories of the season in the staying division.

The four-year-old gelding has made gigantic strides, winning six (for a career total of eight) of his nine starts and taking his form to a new level for his Newmarket trainer.

After running out a commanding winner in the Group 3 German St Leger (2,800m) at Dortmund on Sept 21, Caballo De Mar went on to provide Scott with his first European Group 1 success thanks to a battling victory over Coltrane in the Qatar Prix du Cadran (4,000m) at ParisLongchamp earlier in the month on Arc weekend on Oct 4.

With Scott now keen for further Group 1 glory, the son of Phoenix Of Spain looks set to line up in the €350,000 (S$528,000) Prix Royal-Oak over 3,100m at Saint-Cloud, with Cadran's winning partner Tom Marquand to retain the ride.

"He's been supplemented for the Prix Royal-Oak and we're looking forward to it," said Scott.

"He worked great on Friday morning and is in really good shape. We've been really pleased with him since his run in the Cadran.

"He's so straightforward, such an easy horse to train and it seems like he's just thriving. This looks like an obvious fit for him, three weeks in between runs will be perfect and he's in great shape.

"The lovely thing about him is that you can fire him out the gates into the race without setting him alight. You can get a position without using any effort.

"Double Major (two-time Royal-Oak winner and defending champion) looks like a horse that seems to want an easy lead, but Caballo will just take him on all the way and it will be fascinating to see."

Scott said one of Caballo De Mar's assets is his versatility and ability to relax and save his best for last.

"You can put our horse anywhere and that will benefit him massively," he said. "He's so relaxed and conserves so much energy.

"We had the heart rate monitor on him this morning galloping and most horses would be doing more in a hack canter than he's doing galloping. He's so laid-back and lazy, it's extraordinary."

On future plans, Scott added: "We're not going to send him to the Middle East this winter because we've finally decided that he doesn't like fast ground.

"We'll just really give him time over the winter and bring him back to train him for all the nice staying races."

Caballo De Mar is currently third in the line of betting on 9-2, behind the two French hopes, favourite Arrow Eagle (7-4) for Jean-Claude Rouget and Double Major (5-2) for Christophe Ferland.

An Irish-bred five-year-old by Japanese stallion Daiwa Major, Double Major is proven over the gruelling 3,100m trip being the two-time reigning champion.

However, Arrow Eagle will step up significantly in distance having finished sixth in the Group 1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (2,400m) on Oct 5.

The rest of the small seven-horse field is rounded out by the usual cross-channel visitors from the UK, Irish maestro Aidan O'Brien's Queenstown and Sevenna's Knight, and British raider Sunway for French expatriate trainer David Menuisier.

"There's a very good Gleneagles horse (Arrow Eagle) in there who finished sixth in the Arc - running on," said Scott.

"So he's definitely going to be a threat. He's won two Group 2s this year and is trained by the master, Rouget.

"He's going to be a stern test and then you've got Double Major who has won it twice in a row.

"Our horse is so tough, though. He doesn't seem to be feeling the effects of last time. Hopefully they get a bit of rain because we want it a test. We're going to have to make it a test for Arrow Eagle because he's a good horse.

"We'll go and put plenty of pressure on, I think, but we'll see what Tom thinks." RACING AND SPORTS