A tilt at Classic glory in the Betfred St Leger remains firmly on the cards for Deira Mile following his narrow defeat at Windsor on Saturday.
Making his first appearance since finishing fourth behind City of Troy in the Derby in early June, the Camelot colt was a hot favourite for the Listed August Stakes, but was unable to reel in the front-running Sea Of Roses, who clung on by a neck under a well-judged ride from Hayley Turner.
While frustrated to suffer defeat, Deira Mile’s trainer Owen Burrows is far from despondent as he targets a trip to Doncaster on September 14.
“It was disappointing not to win, but it was bit of a messy race, so I wasn’t too disappointed with the performance as such,” he said.
“It would have been asking a lot to go to a Leger without a prep run, so I was pleased to get one into him. It was probably half a furlong shorter than ideal and a messy old race, but fair play to Hayley, she got her fractions spot-on and we couldn’t quite get by.
“I was happy as you can be for finishing second and we’ll go straight to the Leger now. I don’t see any reason to change plans, so we’ll head to Doncaster.”
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