Trueshan powered through the mud under Hollie Doyle to land the Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup, the highlight on day one of the Qatar Goodwood Festival, and give trainer Alan King a first Group 1 success on the Flat. Sent off the 6/5 favourite for the two mile staying contest following the withdrawal of four-time Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup winner Stradivarius, the five-year-old was very lit up in the early stages and raced too freely. However, Doyle didn’t panic and after dropping him in to track the leader always looked as if she had things firmly under control.
She then asked Trueshan to go about his business entering the home straight and he quickly had his rivals flat to the boards. Inside the final furlong he then forged clear to beat 33/1 shot Away He Goes by three and three-quarter lengths. The third home Sir Ron Priestley (9/2) was loaded into the horse ambulance and taken for a scan having collapsed after the race having believed to have suffered from the recurrence of an old injury.
King is better known as National Hunt trainer and has enjoyed plenty of success at the Cheltenham Festival courtesy of My Way de Solzen in the 2006 World Hurdle, Voy Por Ustedes in the 2007 Queen Mother Champion Chase, Katchit in the 2008 Champion Hurdle, Oh Crick in the 2009 Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase and Uxizandre in the 2015 Ryanair Chase. The delighted Barbury Castle-based handler said: “I have always enjoyed my Flat races and this is very special. This is up there with the Champion Hurdles. All I want to do is train proper horses! I am not giving up the jumping yet!”
He added: “Hollie has given him a great ride and the owners have been great supporters of mine. Trueshan can be a little keen so I’m glad he had a proper race at Newcastle – he could have been ferocious today if he hadn’t had that run. Trueshan is very ground dependent. We had to take him out of the Gold Cup, which is very hard to do. He is in the Lonsdale and he is in the Irish St Leger. I will talk to the boys, but we will probably take him out in the morning at the forfeit stage. The Cadran will probably be his big target in the autumn.”
Doyle and Trueshan had previously combined to win the Group 2 QIPCO British Champions Long Distance Cup on testing ground at Ascot in October, the same day she landed a breakthrough first Group 1 success on Glen Shiel. The winning rider said: “This is one of the best days I’ve ever had. When I got a taste of the success at Ascot on Glen Shiel, I got a bit more hungry and determined to want it more often.
“I never really feel pressure, but today something did come over me as I didn’t want to let everyone down. I was very confident going into the race. I haven’t had many experiences of Goodwood, let alone on a short-priced favourite. I was feeling it a bit more than normal, but Trueshan is an exceptionally talented animal on this ground. I got some buzz off that – I don’t get too high or too low, but when you have experiences like that you have to make the most of it.”
Connections of superstar mare Honeysuckle have confirmed that she will stay over hurdles for the forthcoming 2021/22 campaign. The Henry de Bromhead trained seven-year-old is unbeaten in 12 starts over hurdles, with eight of those successes coming at the highest level. Her four Grade One wins last term included the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham Festival, the Irish Champion Hurdle and the Punchestown Champion Hurdle.
Honeysuckle won her sole start in a point to point at Dromahane before she De Bromhead in 2018when accounting for the smart Annie Mc by an easy 15 lengths. She has been described as a natural over fences by her handler, who at the end of last season had not ruled out the possibility of sending her over the larger obstacles and attempting to become the first mare since the mighty Dawn Run to do the Champion Hurdle/Cheltenham Gold Cup. However, De Bromhead and owner Kenny Alexander have ruled out a move to fences in the immediate future.