Planteur heading to Sky Bet York Stakes
Last year’s Group One, Prix Ganay - Prix Air Mauritius winner, Planteur, has entered the Group 2, Sky Bet York Stakes, to be held at York on Saturday, July 28th. The 5-year-old has run three races so far this season, but all in defeat.
Under the care of Elie Lellouche, Planteur marvellously won the Group 1 event at Longchamp last year. It was the best performance of his career, as he defeated the big guns like Sarafina and Cape Blanco to ensure the top spot by a length’s distance.
He is now being trained by Marco Botti, who has not yet succeeded in guiding him to victory. However, the son of Danehill Dancer was not disgraced in his opening two races this season.
He took minor honours in the Dubai World Cup Sponsored By Emirates Airline, when Ryan Moore rode him to the third place in March. He once again earned some good money for the Newmarket trainer, when finishing third behind Golden Lilac in the Group 1 Prix
D'Ispahan at Longchamp.
Owned by Mohamed Albousi Alghafli, the bay horse was awful in his previous appearance. The spectators at Royal Ascot saw him ending up seventh behind So You Think in the 150th Anniversary of Prince of Wales's Stakes last month.
Planteur has plenty of entries in hand, but Saturday’s Sky Bet York Stakes looks to be the top priority. Nevertheless, the handler will keep an eye on the ground conditions before making a final call on running the horse at York.
"I think the key for Planteur is to be fresh and we are looking at running in the Sky Bet Stakes, depending on the ground," said Botti.
The trainer will be represented by another powerful runner, Marcret, who recently won the Huxley Stakes at Chester. On the possibility of sending Martino Alonso’s 5-year-old son in the imminent Group 2 competition, he described:
"We will keep an eye on the race for Marcret and see how many runners there are because it would be a big ask for him. It's a very competitive race and we will just see how many declare before making a decision on Thursday."
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