Dubai: Godolphin’s Maftool and Belardo will skip Saturday’s English 2,000 Guineas (G1) and instead take their chances in the French equivalent at Longchamp, Paris, next weekend.
Winners of the UAE 2,000 Guineas (G3) and Dewhurst Stakes (G1) respectively, Maftool and Belardo were the two noticable withdrawls, leaving a total of 19 colts to face the starter in the first Classic of the British season.
Saeed Bin Surour, who trains Maftool, reported that the son of Hard Spun had been pleasing him but that they felt the English highlight had come too soon.
“We have decided to miss the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket and go for the French Guineas instead, as it just gives him a little more time to prepare,” the Emirati handler told the Godolphin website.
Maftool raced in Dubai during the Dubai World Cup Carnival, where he twice finished runner-up to Kentucky Derby (G1) hope Mubtaahij — in the Guineas Trial and UAE Derby at Meydan. He also finished fifth to Belardo in the Dewhurst at Newmarket last October.
Newmarket-based Roger Varian also opted to cross the English Channel with Belardo after the Irish-bred son of Lope De Vega could only finish eighth in the Greenham Stakes when unsuited by good to firm ground.
Varian, however, runs the supplemented Intilaaq, who represents Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance, who will be two-handed in the race with Greenham Stakes runner-up Estidhkaar
Meanwhile, Andre Fabre will take his chances with Territories, who races out of Godolphin’s French Stables.
