Doyen form puzzling Godolphin
Godolphin’s team have been scratching their heads as to what has been wrong with Doyen and admit that they would be surprised if he returned to last year’s form in Saturday’s King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes.
Doyen produced an electrifying performance to land the 2004 renewal of the Group One, scoring by three lengths from Hard Buck.
He also destroyed his opponents in the Hardwicke Stakes but the five-year-old’s form has since deserted him.
He was well-beaten in the Irish and Newmarket Champion Stakes and looked a shadow of his former self on his only run this campaign when fifth to Bandari in the Hardwicke, run at Royal Ascot at York.
“It’s frustrating, and obviously we’ve had him checked over a dozen times,” Simon Crisford, Godolphin’s racing manager told the Guardian.
“The horse is absolutely fine in himself, he just hasn’t performed to the level he showed at Ascot. He’s very consistent in one thing, which is his approach to training. We just wish he could be a bit more consistent on the track.
“It would be difficult to say that he needed the run at York, because we didn’t think that he did at all. I think Sheikh Mohammed will be keen to let him take his chance on Saturday as he’s got nothing to lose, and if we saw him back to anything like last year’s form it would be brilliant.
“But realistically I don’t think that we can expect that to happen.”
Doyen is as big as 25-1 with some firms for the King George, run this year at Newbury.
