Leading British trainer Charlie Appleby is still very optimistic and passionate about his 2018 Epsom Derby winner Masar and that he still holds all of his old ability to be able to go on and land a nice contest this season.
The four year old colt for Godolphin lit up the Epsom Derby last season when going on to score nicely and give his owners another Classic to add to their elusive list of winners but after that sustained an injury that saw him miss the rest of the season and the start of his four year old campaign.
He made his long awaited return at Royal Ascot on the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes and he could not of had a worse start, stumbling out the stall and always playing catch up which saw him run his race before he had the chance to make a real go of it in the final stages.
Appleby was keen to get him back on to a racecourse as although never challenging the winner at the royal meeting you could see that the same Group 1 winning ability was waiting to be unleashed again.
However at Newmarket on Thursday he was less than impressive and gave the opposite impression to the racing world when finishing last of the six fielded Group 2 Princess Of Wales's Tattersalls Stakes.
(Credit ATR) “He came out the race well and there were no problems at all. The discussion will go on over the next week before we make a decision on what lies in his future,” said Appleby.
“At the end of the day he is a horse that owes us nothing and he gave us a fantastic day last year (at Epsom). On the flip side of that, his work last week was so good we came into this meeting confident that we would hopefully get him back on the winning track.
“He has had two starts this year. The first was a messy race for him – having the start he did – and this time we got trapped wide and ran too free. It would be lovely to see him have another crack at it where he can get himself into a lovely rhythm and we can see what he has done before.
“No one will change my mind at all. Does he still have the ability? Yes. The main thing is he has pulled up sound.
“The York Stakes in a couple of weeks’ time will come too quick, so at the moment, there is no real set plan.”