Al Qareem set to serve it up to Trawlerman in Cup

Al Qareem will bid to put the seal on another excellent season in the Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup at Ascot on Saturday.

The Karl Burke-trained six-year-old has carried the Nick Bradley Racing silks to four victories this term, taking his overall tally to 12 wins from 34 starts, while he has also finished second in the Ormonde Stakes, fourth in the Lonsdale Cup and third in the Irish St Leger.

He looked better than ever when dominating from the front in the Group Three Cumberland Lodge Stakes, his third victory from four visits to Ascot, and Bradley is expecting similarly positive tactics to be employed in the Qipco Champions Day opener.

Bradley said: “Everyone is very happy and very excited to see him. I don’t think I’m going to get there myself as I’ve been very busy at the sales the last couple of weeks.

“It was probably a career-best last time over a mile and a half. The ground is going to be a bit quicker on Saturday I think, but over two miles that’s probably the ground we’d choose.

“It’s a small enough field and we’ll try to do the same. The only time we got it wrong was at York, we did get it wrong that day, but we know him better than we’ve ever known him now and he does seem in very good form.

“We’ll let him bowl along and see if they can get to him.”

Trawlerman sets the standard having established himself as the star of the division this season by winning the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot and the Lonsdale Cup at York.

Winner of this race in 2023 and and third behind Kyprios 12 months ago, John and Thady Gosden’s Godolphin-owned seven-year-old is odds-on to regain his title in Berkshire.

William Buick has ridden him for the majority of the last two seasons and told www.godolphin.com: “Trawlerman has had a magnificent season and let’s hope that he can finish off on a high. Everything is there for him – the ground looks as though it will be nice and he appears to be in very good form.

“He gets the trip well and likes to gallop, but he showed in the Lonsdale Cup that he is happy to take a lead if one wants to go quicker. If you are in a horse race with him, you will know about it afterwards.”

The Gosdens are also represented by Sweet William, who was second to Trawlerman in the Lonsdale Cup before landing his second Doncaster Cup last month, with the field completed by Aidan O’Brien’s pair of Stay True and Saratoga.

Stay True was last seen finishing third behind stablemate Scandinavia in the St Leger and now steps up to two miles to take on his elders for the first time.

O’Brien said: “He’s a lovely, kind horse who won his maiden and ran a lovely race in Lingfield and then he had a break after that.

“We felt at York (fourth in Great Voltigeur Stakes) he was just ready to go and he improved a bit from York to the Leger and we think he’s come forward again.

“He’s a lovely, straightforward horse. It will be interesting going up to two miles against the older horses, we’re looking forward to seeing what he does.”