Racehorse Noble Style won’t be competing in the Watership Down Stud Too Darn Hot Greenham Stakes on Saturday because Noble Style’s trainer Charlie Appleby prefers a racetrack gallop at Newmarket than a run in soft ground at Newbury.
The Kingman colt triumphed in each of his three races as a youngster, completing his hat-trick in the York Gimcrack Stakes before suffering from colic and missing the Middle Park in the fall.
Appleby had planned to give Noble Style a test run at Newbury this weekend, as he sees him as a potential contender for the Qipco 2000 Guineas.
The three-year-old is set for a more calm workout on the Rowley Mile, exactly as Coroebus did before giving Appleby his first 2000 Guineas victory last season, although challenging conditions are predicted in Berkshire.
“Noble Style is in excellent shape right now,” the Moulton Paddocks handler stated, “I made the entry for Newbury, but I could be twisting it because of the weather.
The trip is the uncertainty around him two weeks to the day before that race leading up to the Guineas. When he won the Gimcrack, we witnessed his quickness, and that form has continued. Pace is not a concern; rather, it is whether he will complete a mile, therefore I would have preferred to go to the Greenham and go up to seven.
But if the forecasts are accurate and it turns out to be soft, I’ll swerve off course, give him a racetrack run here, and then enter the Guineas right away.”
