Classic ready for Group One encounter
Trainer David Simcock is set for his first Group One runner on Friday when Classic Encounter tackles the Shadwell Stud Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket.
The speedy juvenile beat subsequent Richmond Stakes winner Always Hopeful by five lengths at the track in May, but has not run since finishing third in the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot at York, having returned home lame with a hairline fracture to his off-hind tibia.
Classic Encounter has only raced over the minimum trip so far, and his big test is whether he will stay the six furlongs of the Middle Park.
“That’s the question everyone will be asking, I suspect,” Simcock told the Racing Post.
“The answer is we’ll not find out until we try, but he seems to have strengthened up physically since his enforced absence, so we’re hopeful.
“We had a choice of the Middle Park or waiting for the Cornwallis, and decided on the former. It will be my first runner in a Group One and I’m looking forward to it.
“Classic Encounter got rather buzzy at Royal Ascot at York, and possibly that was because it was his third run inside a month. The break has done him good, and I’m more than pleased with his work in preparation for the return.”
