Dubai: Royal Ascot victor Buratino, who jockey William Buick described as the ‘most exciting two-year-old’ in training, has his connections eying several options heading to the €200,000 (Dh821,763) Keeneland Phoenix Stakes, his foremost Group 1 target.
The Mark Johnston-trained and Godolphin-owned son of renowned Darley stallion Exceed And Excel created quite a stir when posting an impressive victory in the Group 2 Coventry Stakes at the Royal meeting earlier this month.
He was subsequently installed as the 16/1 favourite for next year’s 2,000 Guineas (G1) at Newmarket, while connections were chalking out a superior schedule of races for him, with August’s Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh, Ireland, his designated late-summer objective.
Charlie Johnston, son of famous North Yorkshire-based handler Mark, who has long trained horses owned by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, offered some insight into the future plans for Buratino.
“He’s come out of the Coventry great and we’ll sit down with John Ferguson and Shaikh Mohammad and make a plan,” he said of the star from Godolphin, the racing operation created by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
“It’s seven weeks between the Coventry and Phoenix and the horse has thrived on his racing. A Group 1 is the obvious place we want to go next, but I couldn’t rule out another run in between as he hates standing in his box.
“He’s unbeaten over six furlongs and is unbelievable over that trip — he’s a different horse. He’s got bigger and stronger with every race.”
The Group 1 Phoenix Stakes, one of the top races in Europe for two-year-olds, is sponsored by Keeneland from Kentucky, home to both the world’s biggest thoroughbred sales company and one of America’s most famous racecourses.
Johnston won the Phoenix in 1997 with Prince Heir, who raced in the colours of the late Shaikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Last year the race was won by Dick Whittington, who was picking up a 13th trophy for trainer Aidan O’Brien since his first with Lavery in 1998.
Buratino first announced himself as a potential Classic hopeful when recording an emphatic victory in the six-furlong Listed Woodcote Stakes on Derby Day at Epsom.
It was a first success for Buick aboard the juvenile, who began his career with an impressive three-and-a-half length victory at Chelmsford Racecourse in Essex.
He lacked focus in his subsequent start at Ascot, when failing to follow a straight course, but pressed the winner when his rider Joe Fanning sorted him out. He would finish third behind Richard Hannon’s Log Out Island, a subsequent Group 2 runner-up.
A victory at Newmarket was followed by a second place effort in the Listed National Stakes at Sandown in May.
Buratino is a son of three-time winning Kingmambo mare Bergamask, who finished third in the Listed Prix Petite Etoile at Deauville and hails from the extended family of Danehill Dancer. Already the dam of three winners, Bergamask also has a yearling colt by Shamardal, a filly foal by Cape Cross and has been tested in foal to first-season stallion Slade Power, according to the Darley website.
Exceed And Excel, the world’s best stallion of talented juveniles, has sired over 25 individual Group winners at that age including Breeders’ Cup victor Outstrip, Australia’s multiple Group 1 winner Helmet and the Golden Slipper heroine Overreach.
