Newmarket gallop leaves Masar primed for Coral-Eclipse

Sport360 staff 01:52 01/07/2018
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  • William Buick riding Masar to the winning post in the Epsom Derby

    Derby winner Masar turned in a sparkling gallop on the July Course at Newmarket early Saturday in his final piece of serious work before the G1 Coral-Eclipse at Sandown Park on Saturday July 7.

    With regular work rider Brett Doyle in the saddle, and in the company of two galloping companions, Masar drew clear in the final stages of a workout over seven furlongs.

    “I was very pleased with that,” Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby said.

    “That should have him spot on for Saturday,” he added. “It was nice building work. It was copybook, just as he had done prior to Epsom.

    He pulled clear of African Jazz and Alqamar, who were the same horses he galloped with before the Derby.

    “We came over to the racecourse for the ground. It has been so hot and dry here in Newmarket, and we wanted to get a galloping surface that enabled him to comfortably stretch out,” he explained.

    “Brett (Doyle), who rides him all the time at home, was delighted the way he picked up, and also the way he covered the ground,” he reported.

    William Buick, who will be aboard Masar again on Saturday, was an interested observer of the Derby winner’s final gallop before the Eclipse.

    The Coral-Eclipse is an important race in the career of the Derby winner as he drops back in distance to a mile and a quarter — and he faces older opposition for the first time in his career.

    It is a test that has proven beyond several accomplished Derby winners in recent times. Motivator was beaten in 2005, Authorized in 2007, while Workforce was beaten by Australian champion So You Think in an epic running of the Eclipse in 2011.

    “It is never a foregone conclusion, the Eclipse,” Appleby said. “But we go there with a Derby winner, who is ready to take on the older horses.

    “As a Sandown winner (G3 Solario Stakes), we know he likes the course, and he has done well since his win at Epsom.

    “His Highness Sheikh Mohammed is a sporting man, and he feels Masar, as a Derby winner, should be taking on the best horses around. If we are beaten on Saturday, we will take our hats off to a very good winner….for we know that Masar is very good,” the trainer added.

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