Horse Racing: Dunguib to enter Coral Cup if Red Mills performance impressive
Trainer of Dunguib, Philip Fenton revealed on this Wednesday that he may enter the potential winner of the Stan James Champion Hurdle in the Coral Cup.
Dunguib is a Paddy Power favourite with his odds as big as 14-1 for the Champion Hurdle even though the horse has not took part in any races since April of last year. Dunguib also missed his intended reappearance this season which was to be on last Sunday’s
BHP Insurances’ Irish Champion Hurdle, due to a minor sickness.
Connections of Dunguib have revealed to reporters that the horse, which is currently eight years old, will most likely start in the Red Mills Trial Hurdle at Gowran Park on the 12th February. Fenton, on the other hand informed reporters on Wednesday
that Dunguib’s participation is uncertain, for the horse might not be ready for the race just yet.
Fenton continued his statement by saying that although the racehorse will continue to train on the weekend, it is unclear and a source of panic to him and his team not knowing whether the horse is prepared to participate in a big race like the Red Mills
Hurdle and do not wish to rush him into running before Cheltenham.
Fenton, who is in charge of taking care of the horse, saw Dunguib win an easy and impressive victory in the Champion Bumper in 2008 as well as the run in last year’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in which the colt made it to third place. However, Fenton is unsure
of Dunguib’s performance in the Trial Hurdle and is worried that the horse may not even run the Hurdle after all.
According to reports, Fenton has said that Dunguib is still as great a runner as he was in his best years and is in top form and yet Fenton, who has complete faith in Dunguib -who has only ran minor races until now- is anxious and uncertain whether the horse’s
ability and experience is enough to win him a Champion’s Hurdle.
The Red Mills Trial Hurdle is two and a half miles long which is the longest that Dunguib has run since the start of his career as a racehorse. If the horse is able to run the distance without much difficulty, Fenton aims to enter him to run the Coral Cup,
which will have the horse cover a distance of over 2 miles and five furlongs.
However, any plans for the future of the horse depend on his performance in the Red Mills Trial Hurdle and no decision is to be made until the race has taken place.