Wednesday 21 September 2016 10:32, UK
Ed Walker has had to scrap plans to run Stormy Antarctic before his big date on British Champions Day but still hopes to have his crack three-year-old in peak form for the Qipco Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.
The Newmarket trainer reports Stormy Antarctic slightly out of sorts which has forced him to rule out races in Italy and France ahead of the Group One over a mile at Ascot on October 15.
"We were going to go to Italy on Sunday for a Group One out there, but unfortunately he's been coughing and is a bit under the weather at the moment," Walker told At The Races.
"It's very frustrating. The plan was to miss that and go to the Wildenstein (Chantilly, October 1), but he won't be ready in time for that so we're probably going to have to go to straight to the QEII.
"We were hoping to get him back in the winner's enclosure before throwing him back in the deep end, but as circumstances are we're giving him a bit of time and try to get him A1 for the QEII.
"We'll be hoping he hope he gets his conditions and some softer ground, in which case I still have every faith in the horse that he's top drawer.
"You don't come second in two competitive Group One without being top drawer. He deserves his big one and let's hope it's at Ascot."
