“Its holiday time for Belgian Bill” says George Baker
The 3-year-old Belgian Bill has had a busy summer in France and Turkey due to which all he wants to do right now is rest and get fit for the future races which in effect means that he will be missing the Bedford Cambridgeshire this season.
It was not preplanned to drop out of the Bedford Cambridgeshire but the work that Belgian Bill was doing was reflective that the connections will eventually have to sidestep from this race as there was no point in tiring the horse further just to lose the
race in the end.
"We worked him last week with the Cambridgeshire at the forefront of our mind. We worked him again on Tuesday morning just ahead of that race as a definitive piece of work, but he's had a long, hard summer and you need to be over 100%, absolutely raging,
to go into the race as a three-year-old”, Baker told At The Races.
He has run six races this season, beginning the season with a win and securing a second position by the end of the season in September.
On 3rd September Belgian Bill ran in the International France Galop FRBC Anatolia Trophy (Local Group 2) with a lineup of eight contestants. His quest against the winner, Dordogne trained by Mark Johnson and jockeyed by Alan Munro for this race,
was very impressive.
He remained the center of attention almost as soon as he was out from the stall and turned out to be the second in lead behind Dordogne in the second furlong out. He was a tricky horse on the track that day.
Finishing the race third was Saeed Bin Suroor’s Emirates Champion under Richard Mullen.
Before being a spectacle in Turkey, he displayed his charisma in France too at the Grand Prix Du Lion D’Angers in August with the participation of ten horses.
Not that he gave a spectacular performance but he did stay determined on the tracks for as long as it was possible for him because in the final 1 ½ furlong Belgian Bill got stuck as he was racing from the midfield and could not find a route out and thus,
missed out on coming clear and getting just to the fourth position.
The connections are all excited about his future prospects and they predict that by next year he will grow compatible to races of Cambridgeshire caliber. They are aiming for the Dubai Carnival in February as their next goal for Belgian Bill once he is done
resting.
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