Time Test will miss York’s Juddmonte International next week after failing to satisfy connections in his home work. The horse had been trading as 9-2 joint second-favourite for what looks like being a hot Group One contest.
The news is the more frustrating for those close to Time Test because it seemed as though he would finally get the fast ground that he craves, having run well on soft to be third in the Eclipse last month. Plans are now on hold for the four-year-old.
“He worked this morning with Countermeasure, his normal lead horse,” Roger Charlton, his trainer, told Racing UK. “Every time he’s worked this year, he’s moved up on the bridle and then quickens four or five lengths clear. Today he just worked a little bit flat.
“He moved up as if he’s going to go winging past him but didn’t. His regular rider said he thought he worked a bit flat and it wasn’t him. There’s no point running in a race like that if your gut feeling tells you the horse isn’t 100%, so we decided to scratch. We’ll go through the normal tests, give him a break and I guess he will tell us where he’s going to run but it’s too early to say.”
Following the withdrawal of such a significant rival, Postponed hardened as favourite for the International and is no bigger than 11-10, having been 2-1 on Wednesday morning. But he comes from the Roger Varian stable that appears to have been afflicted by a virus in the Newmarket area. Varian’s only Wednesday runner, Sharja Queen, finished unplaced at odds of 6-4.
Charlton still expects to run Fair Eva in next week’s Lowther Stakes, for which she is the odds-on favourite. The daughter of Frankel is just 4-1 for next year’s 1,000 Guineas.
