Brian Meehan has his eye on the Breeders’ Cup for Inishfallen after his brave second in the Solaria Stakes at Sandown.
The son of Exceed and Excel had won just one of his previous four starts and was sent off at 22-1 for the seven-furlong Group Three event.
However, he took his form to another level under a fine ride from Sean Levey, with the colt enjoying himself on the front-end and then knuckling down to force Charlie Appleby’s Aablan to pull out all the stops when prevailing by a neck.
Encouraged by the career-best performance, his handler is keen to take the youngster to Santa Anita for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in early November, but before that he could appear at Newmarket in the Tattersalls Stakes (September 28) won by Modern Games and Nostrum in the past two seasons.
“I was delighted with him and I thought Sean gave him a great, intelligent ride,” said Meehan.
“He reported after that the ground was dead and that was the beating of him – if the ground had been faster he would have won.
Have we just seen a potential star? 🌟
Keen-travelling Aablan (Dubawi) fights back like a serious horse in the @VirginBet Solario Stakes @Sandownpark 👀
Back-to-back victories in the Group Three for Charlie Appleby 🔵@godolphin | @the_doyler pic.twitter.com/vTG9eWVGUS
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) September 2, 2023
“We might look at the Somerville or ultimately I would say the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. That’s the thoughts at the moment.
“He’s looking good after not too many runs and has a nice profile.”
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