Vadeni is likely to be a star addition to the May 28 Tattersalls Gold Cup (G1) after Georges Rimaud, the Aga Khan’s racing and breeding manager in France, confirmed the intention to supplement last season’s champion 3-year-old colt.
Such a move would potentially set up a rematch with Luxembourg from the Irish Champion Stakes (G1) last September, while Bay Bridge is reported to be on target for Sunday’s 10 1/2-furlong group 1 test.
Last month Vadeni finished fourth in the Prix Ganay (G1) in his first start since the Arc, after which Jean-Claude Rouget confirmed he would seek to get another run into the homebred son of Churchill prior to his main target for the first half of the season, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes (G1).
In the immediate aftermath, the Prix d’Ispahan (G1) had been suggested as the stepping stone but the Curragh race looks a better fit over a similar trip to Vadeni’s victory in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes (G1), and the same distance at which he blazed to a five-length success in the Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) (G1).
“He’s not been supplemented as we speak but that’s what we would like to do,” said Rimaud on Monday. “We want to keep Vadeni at group 1 level—he is a group 1 horse—and we have opted for the Tattersalls Gold Cup rather than another race. The distance suits him and it seems the logical race.”
Rouget and the Aga Khan team caught plenty by surprise when supplementing Vadeni for the Eclipse in the wake of his Jockey Club success and he has clearly been giving the right signs since his comeback at Longchamp last month in order to justify the €45,000 late entry fee for the weekend.
“He worked this morning and everything seemed to go well,” said Rimaud. “We’ll have to make sure that remains the case before supplementing him but the intention is to run.”
While connections believe the Tattersalls Gold Cup is the right race for Vadeni, rerouting him to the Curragh means avoiding a clash with the owner’s Erevann in the Ispahan, a race that could act as a springboard for the Queen Anne Stakes (G1) for the regally-bred son of Dubawi and Royal Ascot winner Ervedya.
“Erevann is very well and he will work on Tuesday morning with a view to the Prix d’Ipsahan next Monday,” said Rimaud. “We’ll know more then but he’s in good form.”
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