The Waco Kid could enter Lagardere equation at Longchamp on Sunday

By Sporting Life

17:05 · WED October 02, 2024

Hugo Palmer is “weighing up” a quick return to action for The Waco Kid and supplementing for Sunday’s Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere following his recent Tattersalls Stakes victory at Newmarket.

A consistent performer since stepping into stakes company, the tough son of Mehmas got his reward for some fine efforts in defeat when scooping Group Three honours with relative ease on the Rowley Mile last Thursday.

His handler was left pondering his options in the immediate aftermath, as having proven his readiness for a step up to the highest level, The Waco Kid was without entries for the upcoming Group One contests.

Palmer, along with owners The Gene Genies, are now giving real consideration to Sunday’s top-level event at ParisLongchamp, where it would cost €28,800 at Thursday’s supplementary stage for the hardy youngster to enter the fray.

“We’re weighing up whether to supplement for the Lagardere,” said Palmer.

“I’m very happy with the horse since Newmarket, he very tough, takes his racing very well and doesn’t lose any weight. He’s come out of the race looking fantastic and was squealing away the next morning and has been in great nick since.

“It’s €28,8000 so it needs plenty of thinking, but the nice thing is we can see to a degree who is going to run. There were 12 left in the race this morning and we will just have to see how many of them stand their ground.

“I think to supplement and go and be in a 12-runner race we might feel that is not the right opportunity, but if the race slightly fell apart and horses weren’t going, it might seem worth having a crack.”

If the decision is made not to make a trip to Paris, The Waco Kid is likely to head straight to Del Mar to compete in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

He could be joined in California by stablemate and National Stakes third Seagulls Eleven, with the colt – who carries the colours of Brighton & Hove Albion and counts Seagulls star James Milner among his owners – also in contention for a trip Stateside.

Palmer added: “We’re pretty keen on the Breeders’ Cup plan for The Waco Kid, so it is just a question of do we go to France before America. If we don’t go to France I’d have thought it would be straight to the Breeders’ Cup.

“The Dewhurst will be a stronger race than France, I would have thought. He’s entered in the horses in training sale (October 28 to November 1), but if he’s going to go to the Breeders’ Cup then he won’t be able to go (to the sale).

“I think we might be two-handed in the race and I’m pretty sure Seagulls Eleven will go there as well.

“We will leave him in the Dewhurst on Monday morning and have a look and then it will just be a case of deciding if we run in the Dewhurst before the Breeders’ Cup.”

Rash decision already made

Confirmed for the race is Rashabar, who will bid to sign off for the year on a high when he goes for glory at ParisLongchamp on Sunday.

Brian Meehan’s Coventry Stakes hero found only Aidan O’Brien’s Whistlejacket too good when second in the Prix Morny earlier in the summer and with connections resisting temptation to go for the National Stakes in Ireland recently, Rashabar will again cross the Channel as he steps up to seven furlongs.

The son of Holy Roman Emperor had been mooted as a Breeders’ Cup contender for later in the year, but his team are now leaning towards this being the colt’s final outing of a so-far successful juvenile campaign, with sights already pointed at a return to the French capital for next May’s Poule d’Essai des Poulains.

“He’s come out of the Morny really well. We gave the National a good long hard think, but opted to keep the miles low on the clock and with the French premiums, this looked an obvious target for him,” said Sam Sangster, manager of owners Manton Thoroughbreds.

“I think this will be his swansong for the year and I think we will be thinking of a similar path Isaac Shelby took the other year which was finishing him off after this and heading to the Greenham and French Guineas next spring.

“He’s got an exceptional temperament. He is a horse we could very easily take to the Breeders’ Cup, but we really think he is a horse for next year.”

READ: Runner-by-runner guide to the ParisLongchamp feature

Other notable names in the Lagardere mix include John and Thady Gosden’s Solario Stakes winner Field Of Gold and Aidan O’Brien’s Henri Matisse, with the seven-furlong contest one of six Group One events on the Arc day card.

O’Brien’s Bedtime Story is the standout filly in the other two-year-old contest, the Prix Marcel Boussac, with the daughter of Frankel seeking to bounce back from her slightly disappointing display in the Moyglare Stud Stakes.

Meanwhile there is set to be plenty of British and Irish representation in the Prix de l’Abbaye for the speedsters, with Archie Watson’s Nunthorpe and Flying Five champion Bradsell among 21 going forward for the five-furlong event.

Ralph Beckett’s Park Stakes hero Kinross will attempt to regain his Prix de la Foret crown having surrendered the title to Kelina 12 months ago, while Karl Burke’s Fallen Angel features in the 18 remaining in the Prix de l’Opera following her brave effort behind Porta Fortuna in the Matron Stakes.

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