Artist back to war

James Eustace is keeping his fingers crossed War Artist can secure his first victory in over two years in the Susan Hulme Birthday Conditions Stakes at Doncaster on Saturday.The six-year-old was placed in the Golden Jubilee and the July Cup last season but a number of problems over the winter delayed his comeback, before finishing a fine fourth in the Hackwood Stakes on his eventual return."He's been in good form since Newbury and I was delighted with him that day as he showed plenty of speed before getting a bit tired on the ground," said Eustace."He didn't not handle the ground but he just got more tired than he would have done had it been fast, but he seems to have come out of it really well."There is no doubt he has come on from that run and we'll see what happens on Saturday. I suppose the one thing we could do without is a lot more rain."I think if it's good to soft we'd probably still run and we'd only consider not running if it got softer than that."It would be great if he could get his head in front as obviously his level of form is very good and it would be nice to make him a winner before we go onwards and upwards again."Providing all goes to plan on Saturday we'll look at either the Sprint Cup at Haydock (September 5) or the Golden Peitsche at Baden-Baden (August 30)."