Mick Appleby’s Big Evs will head straight to the Breeders’ Cup for his final ever run as he looks to once again put Nunthorpe disappointment behind him.
The Blue Point colt was having a second roll of the dice in the Group One Knavesmire contest after finishing down the field in the race when taking on older horses as a juvenile last season.
It was the only blip of his two-year-old career, which included Windsor Castle and Molecomb successes prior to York and then Flying Childers and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint victories afterwards.
This year, he made his seasonal debut at York, winning the Listed Westow Stakes to get into the swing of things as a three-year-old.
At Royal Ascot, he ran a good race to come home third in the King Charles III Stakes when beaten a length and a half by Asfoora, on whom he then turned the tables when beating her by a short head to win the King George at Goodwood.
Another bid for the Nunthorpe was his next target but again the race did not return the result expected, with Big Evs racing from stall 14 and failing to land a blow when eighth of 12.
However, connections still intend to adhere to their plan of heading out again to the Breeders’ Cup, with the horse proving himself able to draw a line under a bad run after the Nunthorpe last year.
“He’s doing good, obviously we were disappointed and we think the draw had a lot to do with it,” said Appleby.
“The ground was quite tacky there but it was mainly the draw, anything drawn on the far side didn’t really seem to have much of a chance in the sprints.
“We’ll freshen him up now and head straight to the Breeders’ Cup, that’ll be his last run.
“I think we’ll just go there fresh, that’s the plan with him, it’ll be too soft for him in the Prix de l’Abbaye anyway, it normally is.”
Big Evs is in the same Paul and Rachel Teasdale ownership as Big Mojo, who began to follow in his footsteps when winning the Molecomb at Goodwood in good style in late July.
His next outing was also at York, where he stepped up to six furlongs to contest the Gimcrack and came home in fourth, beaten two lengths.
He will now return to a five-furlong trip in the Flying Childers at Doncaster, continuing to follow the path trodden by Big Evs last year before a potential tilt at the Breeders’ Cup.
“I thought he ran very well, I’m not sure whether he got the six or not or whether it was more the fact that when he hit the front, he was looking around a fair bit,” Appleby said of the York run.
“He’s still a bit green, he’ll go for the Flying Childers next and if he were to win that, then he could go out to America as well for the race Big Evs won last year.”
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