York winner Dundonnell set for Ascot and Toronado rematch

He is being lined up for a tilt at the prestigious St James’s Palace Stakes and a possible rematch with his nemesis Toronado.

Owned by Prince Khalid Abdullah, Dundonnell won the Acomb Stakes at York’s Ebor meeting thanks to an inspired James Doyle ride before being surprisingly beaten at Doncaster on St Leger day by Toronado.

The disappointment etched across the faces of Doyle and Abdullah’s racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe, the chairman of York, was plain to see.

Yet, while subsequent 2000 Guineas fourth Toronado was still too good for Dundonnell in Newmarket’s Craven Stakes in April, Dundonnell did win on his last outing. “We’re going to confirm an entry in the St James’s Palace and have a look,” said trainer Roger Charlton.

“It could pan out that there might be five or six runners, with the two obvious horses being Toronado and Magician, the Irish Guineas winner, but I wonder what else will run.

“I thought the way he ran over seven furlongs at Newmarket he looked like he wants a mile again. He’s in good form, he’s working well, but we’re a kind of 25-1 chance, not 3-1.”

Meanwhile Frankie Dettori has been booked to ride US raider Havelock in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The rider, who has only just returned from a six-month drugs ban, will link up for the first time with the Darrin Miller-trained six-year-old, a winner of four Graded races.

Dettori’s agent, Ray Cochrane, admitted the chances of a stellar book of rides for his client at next week’s Royal meeting are remote.

He said: “We’ve got a few rides, but I’m not releasing them at the minute as I don’t want to frighten anyone away.”

Investigations by the British Horseracing Authority into the use of Sungate in racing remain “ongoing” as veteran trainer Clive Brittain became the latest to confirm that he had used the drug.

Brittain, who has won many of the world’s biggest races, admitted that some of his horses, who were out of training at the time and recovering from serious injury, had been administered Sungate, which contains the banned steroid stanozolol.

Brittain’s admission came after fellow Newmarket trainer Gerard Butler was charged with seven disciplinary offences with regard to his use of Sungate in the latest drugs scandal to envelop racing.

Sir Henry Cecil tributes: 
Page 7.