Rock Montreal diverted to Doncaster after sidestepping Solario

Roger Varian will look to Doncaster with Rock Montreal after deciding to pull the exciting youngster out of the BetMGM Solario Stakes at Sandown on Saturday.

The one million guineas purchase had made a dazzling introduction on summer ground at Yarmouth earlier this month and was all the rage in the betting to enhance his reputation at Group Three level.

However, the Carlburg Stables handler elected to exercise caution with the Godolphin-owned son of Blue Point, having watched the opening races run on rain-softened ground in Esher and also consulted big-race jockey William Buick.

Varian said: “I don’t know if I’m right or wrong, but I’m going on what my instinct is telling me. He only ran 15 days ago and I do think an awful lot of him.

“He’s a big horse who is still developing and it is not just solely about the ground, it’s the ground at the track, and you have to look at how they finished in the Atalanta – it (soft ground) can sometimes take their speed away and I think he’s a speed horse.

“Perhaps I should have run but William thought it was riding slower than described – and that’s not to say it’s described wrong, it is just how it is riding.

“When you see how Rock Montreal won at Yarmouth, he really got his toe out and that was fast ground that day. I’m not saying I won’t run on soft ground in the future, but I think good to soft, the way it’s riding and the stiff nature of the track, just made me a bit nervous.

“It’s my job to act on my experience and feel and sometimes we get it right and sometimes wrong.”

Varian will not have to wait long for an alternative target for the colt, who is entered in the Betfred Champagne Stakes at Doncaster on St Leger day, but also has the of option of following in the hoofprints of stablemate Avicenna, who won the Listed Betfred Flying Scotsman Stakes on Town Moor last year.

“There’s Doncaster coming up and we’re very keen to see him there,” the Newmarket handler added.

“There’s two races for him, there’s the Listed Flying Scotsman that is most likely, and he also holds an entry for the Champagne Stakes.

“We’re sorry we were not able to run him today, but Doncaster is where we would like to go now and hopefully there will be plenty of him to be seen in the future.”

Varian may have been disappointed to withdraw Rock Montreal, but he had earlier found the target with the progressive Kokbastau, who brought up a hat-trick in the Zyn Frontrunner Finish Handicap.

Sent off 9-2 in the hands of Ray Dawson having excelled on his handicap debut at Kempton earlier month, victory looked unlikely a furlong for home, but he knuckled down to register a head success over 3-1 favourite Alcarath.

Varian said: “He’s a lovely horse and I’ve always loved him to be honest. He did a lot wrong today and is not the finished article, but he got a stone rise for winning a lesser race at Kempton very well and I thought this race would suit him. He got himself in a bit of trouble but was good enough to get out of it.

“I’m really pleased for him and even more so that it wasn’t all smooth and he still came out on top.

“He’s a work in progress and I’ll speak to the owner and we’ll maybe give him one more run this year. But he’s a lovely horse to look forward to next year.”

He went on: “We started late and he had the one run last year and then got a nasty fracture at home when we were preparing him for his second run and it took a long time to recover. It was a great job by the vets and a lot of patience by the owner and a good job by my team at home.

“We were only getting going at Yarmouth and he was heavy and needed the run and has done nothing but improve since then. I’ve always been thinking about next year, but we’ll achieve what we can until then and we’ve seen what a lovely stamp of a horse he is, so he will be lovely next year.”