George Scott would be happy to switch Bay City Roller to the Qatar Racing Champion Stakes at Ascot if conditions at ParisLongchamp are deemed unsuitable for his planned tilt at the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
A Group One winner in Germany last year, the four-year-old proved he also has what it takes to mix it with the best on home soil when bolting up a soft ground Coronation Cup at Epsom in early June and he was last seen chasing home last season’s Arc hero Daryz in the Prix Foy.
Scott would love to send his charge back across the Channel for a likely rematch with Daryz in Europe’s premier middle-distance contest in a fortnight’s time, but revealed that if sufficient rain does not fall on the Bois de Boulogne, he is likely to wait for Champions Day on October 17.
“The horse is training beautifully, we couldn’t be happier with him,” the Newmarket handler said at the Henry Cecil Open Weekend on Sunday morning.
“There has just been a little bit of rain come in the forecast. I think with the weather forecast for like 10 days you can predict, anything after that is a little bit of a lottery, but literally in the last 24 hours they’ve been showing some rain in Paris.
“Our Plan A is absolutely to go to Paris for the Arc, but we won’t be running if it’s watered ground – it has to be soft enough so that they’re not having to water, otherwise we’ll go to the Champion Stakes and then the Breeders’ Cup.
“I don’t really want to take him to France and not run. He’d leave on the Friday morning, so you’ll probably have a pretty good idea by then and if there’s rain swirling round he’ll travel, but I feel quite relaxed about Plan B – I love that idea of running in the Champion Stakes if the ground was soft because you wouldn’t necessarily see Ombudsman or Calandagan.”
When asked whether there was a possibility his charge could run in both races, he added: “100 per cent. Last year his best run was in Germany which came off the back of running two weeks, two weeks, two weeks almost – he’s a hardy horse.”
If Bay City Roller is given the green light to head back to Paris, he will be part of what looks a strong Scott contingent being readied for the Arc meeting.
“We’ve got eight possibles across the two days, depending on the weather,” the trainer added.
“We’ve got Caballo De Mar going back for the Prix du Cadran, Ridari will go for either the Prix Daniel Wildenstein or the Prix Dollar and Wimbledon Hawkeye is going for the Dollar.
“We’ve also got two horses for the handicaps – Commander’s Intent is going to run over a mile and then Command The Stars can either go a mile or a mile and a quarter.
“If it got soft Poatan could go for the Abbaye and I would give Forty Years On a chance in the Foret if it rained enough, but it probably won’t and they’ll probably both run at Ascot a week Saturday.”
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