Listed Winner Royal Champion Bound For Australia

Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum's multiple listed winner Royal Champion (Ire) (Shamardal) will continue his career in Australia, according to published reports.

Successful in the Listed Wolferton S. last June, the homebred was third in the G2 York S. a month later and was runner-up in the GI Canadian International S. most recently in October.

“He was very impressive … if he brings that sort of form out here–he's very lightly raced as well for an older horse, he's been well looked after and well managed–he should hopefully have a nice career ahead of him,” co-trainer Sam Freedman, who holds a license with his father Anthony, told Racing.com.

“I think he's identified him as the right profile of horse to send out–his form in England and his run in Canada last time out was excellent.

“He's pretty versatile–he seems to handle most types of going and he's got a bit of speed, so he should hopefully suit out here.”

Sheikh Obaid, who has won the G1 Melbourne Cup, already has Dubai Poet (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) and Legend Of Dubai (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) with the Freedmans in Australia.

“[Royal Champion] is still up there, so he'll fly out soonish, I'd say. The plan is to obviously have him out here and working along through the winter,” Freedman added.

“There's going to be some really suitable 2000-metre races for him over the course of the spring, so we'll see where he fits in–but he's going to arrive with a pretty high rating, so hopefully he can feature in some big ones.”

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Protagonist Lands With A Bang For Haggas Down Under

by TDN AusNZ

Protagonist (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) continued the success story of British trainer William Haggas in Australia when he captured the G3 Sky High S. (2000 metres) at Rosehill (video), beating fellow French-bred 6-year-old gelding Zeyrek (Fr) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) when holding on in a photo finish. It won't be a huge surprise to the team at home, as you may remember Haggas serving a warning on Protagonist late last month when he told TDN AusNZ readers, “You shouldn't underestimate him, he's quite a smart horse.”

Still, that was before the horse had touched down on Australian soil and there have been plenty of hurdles to jump since then, and the local preparation has been ably handled by assistant trainer Issy Paul, her second stint in charge of the raiding team having accompanied Addeybb (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) two years ago.

“To come off a flight and after two weeks of quarantine–we've only come out of quarantine today–he's awesome,” Paul said.

“We weren't sure whether the ground was going to suit him, particularly when they upgraded the track, but what a star.”

Whilst Paul declined to commit to a future target for the horse, James McDonald pointed to improvement still to come.

“He's a nice, solid galloper who handles himself beautifully,” McDonald said. “I think he'll improve a bit off that as well–he hit the front a fair way from home and just star-gazed a bit, just had a good look around. When they got to him he found again, so that was impressive.”

Protagonist was initially purchased as a yearling by Mark McStay/Avenue Bloodstock for €125,000 at Arqana August in 2018.

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