Doumen expresses Windsor concerns
Francois Doumen believes the track at Windsor may not suit his dual Stayers’ Hurdle winner Baracouda when the 10-year-old makes his seasonal bow at the course on Friday.
Doumen’s charge will have his first run of campaign in the Grade Two Blue Square Speed Dial 64555 Hurdle, a race he has won twice before at Ascot in 2001 and 2002.
Owned by JP McManus, Baracouda was last seen finishing runner-up behind Inglis Drever in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, and is one of 17 entries for Friday’s two-and-a-half-mile race.
“He does everything I want him to do – he’s not fading and has been doing his best work,” the French handler told At The Races.
“He’s as strong as ever and you’d need a good horse to beat him.
“It is a problem to go to Windsor though because it is not a track that would suit him. I can’t send him anywhere else at this stage so that’s what we have to do.
“You could get into a trap at that course and it’s not one I’d prefer because he’s a huge-striding horse and he takes a time to get going.”
Baracouda has won 18 of his 24 races over timber and has amassed over £600,000 in prize money.
But on the possibility of his stable star going chasing, Doumen added: “I have no intention of doing so. He’s got potential but he’s too old for that.”
