Charlie Appleby has hinted at supplementing Nations Pride (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) for the Cazoo Derby on Saturday week and suggested that the decision hinges on how the colt performs in a key piece of work on Wednesday morning.
Nations Pride has won his last four starts and, while he did not take part in the gallops morning at Epsom on Monday, he dominated conversation with Appleby revealing that he was leaning towards stumping up the £75,000 supplementation fee to run in the Derby.
A general 10-1 chance for Derby glory, Nations Pride was a seven-length winner of the Newmarket S. last month, and could bid to give Appleby a third success in the Epsom Classic following the heroics of Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) in 2018 and Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) last year.
Appleby, who became the only trainer in history to win the English, French and Irish 2,000 Guineas with three different colts after Native Trail stormed home at the Curragh on Saturday, said: “Nations Pride was very impressive at Newmarket and he's in the French Derby, where we have Modern Games in as well.
“He'll work on Wednesday then we'll make a decision as to whether we supplement him for Epsom on Monday. We're hoping we will be-there's only one Derby and you only want to go there if you think you can try and win it. He has a great profile for the race and ticks the most boxes out of our three possible runners.”
Appleby's two Derby entries Walk Of Stars (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Nahanni (GB) (Frankel {GB}) were joined by Coronation Cup contender Manobo (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the exercise morning at Epsom on Monday.
Speaking about his team, he said, “Walk Of Stars has all the ability in the world and we've always felt he has the engine to do something exciting.
“He would be put down as disappointing at Lingfield but he's still very much a work in progress and we brought him here today to get some more experience under his belt before the big day. He finds everything very easy and handles these undulating tracks well.
“As an individual, he's very much like Adayar–he's a big, scopey horse and surprisingly handles these tracks well. He's agile and switches his leads smoothly.”
He added, “Nahanni has had cheekpieces and blinkers on in the past and he's a different animal when he turns up at the track because at home he'd have a job to warm himself up in a gallop. Adam [Kirby] was very pleased with him there and he has track experience.”
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