Nathaniel – defining new benchmarks for the future races
The defence of the Group 1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes could not come true for the Group 1 Coral-Eclipse winner, Nathaniel. Even though the connections were confident about the improved form of the Galileo’s colt but the step up in class and in terms of rivals might have taken its toll on him.
The four-year-old could not defend the title in the Group 1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes (British Champions Series) but he ended second to Danedream with much pride and dignity. He lost the race by the slightest margin of a nose as the only filly on the track, the four-year-old daughter of Lomitas, dominated the field in the company of jockey, A. Starke.
Gosden remarked:
“I’m delighted with him. I didn’t know which horse had won crossing the line and I was on the line. I can’t believe in two weeks he can run two races like that back to back. It’s quite impressive.”
Being left as the honourable runner-up of the Group 1 event is far more decent than how the Kincorth Investments Inc bred landed the 2011 edition of the race. Striding over the unfavourable situation of the rest is exactly what got him through the wire before the rest.
Rewilding’s tragic accident left Nathaniel at a lucky distance from Workforce and as such there remained nothing much between the wire and the Magnificient Style foaled colt.
The John Gosden trained might not be a Triple Crown contestant but is part of the league when it comes to the Middle Distance Rankings as he shares the podium with Camelot, St Nicholas Abbey and So You Think.
From the stables of trainer, Aidan O’Brien, Camelot ticked 124 after winning the Investec Derby, St Nicholas Abbey achieved it after landing the Diamond Jubilee Coronation Cup also sponsored by Investec while the Australian racing sensation got to 124 after winning the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes.
The interesting upcoming plans of the trainers include the clash between Nathaniel and Frankel in the International Stakes at the York race course later in the year.
“He ate up well and is fine,” said Gosden.
“The great thing is that he doesn’t know he got beat. He thinks it was a dead-heat!
“The races we are looking at for him are the Juddmonte International, the Arc, and the Champion Stakes at Leopardstown and Newmarket for the rest of the campaign.
“He will probably run in two of those.”
The bay colt has earned it for himself to race with the world’s highest rated thoroughbred racing inspiration, Frankel. He might just be able to offer the crowds and the audience what they missed when Frankel and the Australian champion mare, Black Caviar, could not race together.
This one however will be an altogether different experience as Galileo’s colt has already set middle distance rankings at par with that of the top miler.
The trainer, John Gosden has already scooped the 2011 Group 1 Ladbrokes St Leger with stable jockey William Buick and, trainee, Masked Marvel. If his four-year-old under charge gives him the success against the icon of British Horse Racing, Frankel, then the John Gosden team will reach new horizons of excellence.
How close to reality can the dreams of the hall mark trainer turn out to be will take a few months to unfold.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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