Hukum, who bypassed Royal Ascot because of the fast ground, will now be aimed at the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Trainer Owen Burrows decided to withdraw Sandown’s Brigadier Gerard winner from the Hardwicke Stakes, after the ground tightened up throughout the week.
Hukum beat last season’s Derby winner Desert Crown in his scintillating return to action following a year off, having sustained a potentially career-ending hind-leg fracture during his victory in last year’s Coronation Cup at Epsom.
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Image: Hukum enjoyed Royal Ascot success in the King George V Stakes in 2020
Connections felt they did not want to risk him in the race won by last year’s King George hero Pyledriver. However, Shadwell’s longstanding racing manager Angus Gold is keen to take on the Hardwicke winner in the 12-furlong highlight on July 29.
“Hukum will run if and when we get some rain,” said Gold. “It was a touch and go situation [on Saturday]. We were longing to run him, but Owen just felt in the end that while we could run him and he could win it, he might come back a bit sore after it and we’d all look silly.
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“We kept him in training and spent a lot of time getting him right again after his injury last year and he just felt it was too big a risk. It is frustrating but sensible.
“Very much the idea is the King George. If the ground was good or even if it was good to firm, we might have to take a chance. That’s the big day. We will see how we are going nearer the time.”
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Image: Anmaat toughs it out down the outside to win the Group One Prix d'Ispahan
Meanwhile, Burrows’ Prix d’Ispahan winner Anmaat is being primed for the Coral-Eclipse on Saturday week, although Prince of Wales’s Stakes hero Mostahdaf will swerve the race.
Gold said: “We had a winner which was a very important winner. Touch wood, Mostahdaf has come out of it very good. I spoke to John Gosden [on Saturday] and he says he is bouncing.
“John is absolutely right and said that we know this horse is good fresh. He has run plenty of horses back two weeks later, thinking you have had plenty of time, and they come out and run flat.
“Particularly as we have done that with Al Asifah, I think we will be sitting still with Mostahdaf and hopefully get him to York in the same form in August.”
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He added: “The Eclipse is off the cards for Mostahdaf. We still have Anmaat in, ground permitting. If he’s in good form and conditions look suitable, hopefully we will go there with him.”
Promising three-year-old filly Al Asifah, who won her first two starts, including a runaway success in a Listed 10-furlong contest at Goodwood earlier this month, will be held back after a disappointing sixth to Warm Heart when odds-on for the Ribblesdale Stakes on Thursday.
Supplemented for the Group Two contest for her first try over 12 furlongs, just 11 days after her second start, she raced wide but did not pick up when jockey Jim Crowley asked the question.
Gold said: “Everyone has different opinions on Al Asifah, but to me she was just flat.
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“Jim said he was never really happy with her, never really comfortable. I see all the experts saying she didn’t stay – she wouldn’t have won at a mile and a quarter.
“I don’t care what anybody says, at Goodwood she ran right through the line and here she was struggling from two out.
“She had only had two runs before, but she was just a bit more on her toes before. It was only 11 days after her previous run and everything has happened quite quickly for her. It could be a combination of things, but for me, she didn’t run her race.
“When you see how she picked up and ran through the line at Goodwood, she didn’t pick up and run anywhere at Ascot. It was fairly obvious it wasn’t the same run.
“We’ll give her a break now and get her back in the autumn. I still think she will be a very nice filly. We haven’t even discussed targets. We will give her some gentle downtime, three weeks or so, then bring her back and take it from there.”
Sourse: skysports.com
