Collier Hill heads for Irish St Leger
Collier Hill will not bid for a third victory in the Stockholm Cup at Taby this weekend and will instead head for the Irish St Leger on September 15.
Trainer Alan Swinbank has decided against the Scandinavian showpiece in the hope that regular partner Dean McKeown will be fit enough to ride the globetrotter a week later.
Collier Hill famously beat Vinnie Roe and Yeats, among others, when winning the Irish Classic at the Curragh in 2005.
“He’s not going to Sweden but hopefully we can get him to the Irish St Leger. He worked satisfactorily today (Tuesday) and he’ll work again on Saturday, when we should be able to make a decision,” said Swinbank.
“The Swedish race is only worth £32,000 (€47,000), whereas the Irish Leger is worth a lot more, and there’s also less travelling to be done going to the Curragh.
“Ireland is the plan, and it’s so far so good, but the horse is a year older and now takes that bit longer to get fit. If he’s not ready we’ll run Alfie Flits, but we won’t run both.”
McKeown has been sidelined since fracturing his collarbone in a fall at Ripon last month and has delayed his comeback by seven days.
“I rode out for Richard Whitaker this morning, and I felt I wouldn’t be able to do my mounts justice at this stage,” he told the Racing Post.
“I was hoping to ride this weekend but I won’t now, as there’s no point making a fool of myself, especially at this stage of my career. However, if Collier Hill runs in the Irish Leger, I’d be hopeful of making that.”
