Takeover team target Ascot return
Takeover Target’s trainer Joe Janiak is keen to bring his Australian sprinter back to Royal Ascot for the third year in a row.
The 2006 King’s Stand winner, who took second place in last season’s Golden Jubilee, is to be kept going for at least another 12 months.
Takeover Target was at the centre of controversy at Randwick over the weekend when the Group Two Villiers Stakes was taken from him for impeding a rival.
Punters were apparently less than impressed by the decision which involved chief steward Ray Murrihy, who was a a key prosecution witness in the recent Kieren Fallon trial.
“I’ve taken him for a pick and a wash and he couldn’t be happier,” Janiak told the Daily Telegraph in Australia.
“What happens in the autumn depends on where the Department of Primary Industries allows us to do (in terms of equine flu restrictions).
“One plan is to run him in the T J Smith Stakes (April 26) and the All Aged Stakes (on May 3) in Sydney before heading to Singapore and then back to Royal Ascot in England.
“Or we might head to Melbourne for the Group One Newmarket and another race before heading overseas.
“I’m hoping he’ll race for another 12 months – there’s no reason to suggest he won’t.
“The times they ran on Saturday suggest he’s still competitive.”
