The Jerome Reynier trained five year old Skalleti may be heading over to Hong Kong before the turn of the year with the second in the British Champion Stakes reported to be in good health after his momentous effort in the Ascot Group One.
The five year old has been a frequent winner during his career especially on very soft or heavy ground landing back to back Group Two Prix Dollar's at Longchamp, a Group Two in Italy and a Group Three at Deauville.
The gelding saw off a strong challenge from Sottsass at Deauville that day and he has since gone on to land the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, which is superb to the horses form line.
Skalleti gave a superb performance in France two starts ago when landing his second Prix Dollar at the Arc meeting and that saw his odds of 25/1 slashed to 8/1 for the British Champion Stakes where he was a solid second behind the superstar Addeybb.
Reynier reports his stable star to have returned to France none the worse for his first ever Group One outing and now he is thinking big with his horse.
He does it again! Skalleti records back-to-back wins in the Group 2 Qatar Prix Dollar for @maximeguyon_off and Jerome Reynier… pic.twitter.com/uF0B0ptUSZ
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) October 3, 2020
(Credit ATR) The trainer said: “You always go to the races with a lot of confidence with this horse, because he always gives you everything.
“He had the conditions to suit (at Ascot), because he handles that sticky ground well. To be fair, he is good on soft and heavy, straight tracks or right or left-handed, and he has even been winning on Polytrack – he’s just an amazing horse.
“Now the question is whether we go to Hong Kong with him. He hasn’t had a big campaign this year, because he only started in May and had two light starts on good ground before we started to step things up in August.
“We could now be aiming for Hong Kong, where I will enter him in the Hong Kong Cup over a mile and a quarter and the Hong Kong Vase over a mile and a half.
“You have to stay really well over a mile and a quarter at Ascot on that sort of ground, and he wasn’t fading out – when Magical came to him he kept going to finish second. I think he would stay a mile and a half on good ground in Hong Kong.
“We will have to see how we can travel horses and people as well. It could be tough logistically, to try and get everyone there seven days before the race, but we will see.
“Everyone is saying the races will not be as competitive this year, because the Japanese horses are not so good and the local level isn’t so strong either, so this could be the year to try it.”