Al Kazeem has been earmarked to run in the Winter Hill Stakes at Windsor
Last Updated: 05/08/14 12:15pm
Al Kazeem has been earmarked to run in the Winter Hill Stakes at Windsor later this month before connections set sail in pursuit of further top-level success.
Roger Charlton's estimable horse made a rather inauspicious comeback from an aborted stud career at Newbury in July, when he could finish only fourth in a Listed race.
But that was the six-year-old entire's first outing since he finished sixth in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe last October, with owner-breeder John Deer banking on improvement in the Group Three Winter Hill on August 23.
Should things go smoothly at Windsor, Al Kazeem will promptly return to the top table, with races like the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown, the Arc and the Champion Stakes at Ascot all under scrutiny.
Deer said: "He's doing well and is a lot fitter than when he was fourth. He obviously needed that Newbury race a great deal, so we were not too disheartened.
"He's entered in the Irish Champion and the Arc, and he'll also be put in the Champion Stakes at Ascot.
"But the plan before that is that he's going to be running in a Group Three at Windsor and then we'll take it from there.
"If he didn't win that you'd be worried, but Roger thinks we can get him back, and I do, too."
Al Kazeem made huge gains last season, winning three Group One races, including the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown.
He was bought by the Queen after his retirement from racing, but was found to be subfertile and returned to Charlton's Beckhampton stables in Wiltshire.