Chancellor team eyeing Royal Lodge after Champagne problems

Chancellor could be rerouted to the Juddmonte Royal Lodge Stakes following his late withdrawal at Doncaster on Saturday.

Having already won twice on Town Moor, the Cheveley Park Stud-owned juvenile was well fancied for the Group Two Champagne Stakes, but was automatically ruled out after nudging open the gate in the starting stalls with his head and suffering a cut to his mouth.

Cheveley Park’s managing director Chris Richardson reports the son of Kingman to be none the worse for the “frustrating” experience and connections are on the lookout for an alternative target, with a trip to Newmarket on Saturday week under consideration.

“Saturday was obviously very frustrating, but fortunately he seems fine afterwards,” said Richardson.

“Rab (Robert Havlin, jockey) reported that he was fine in the stalls and then another horse kicked out and he thought it was time to go. It was just one of those frustrating, unforeseen events that was very bizarre, but we move on.

“We’ll see how he is, but we’ll have to consider the Royal Lodge – a Group Two over a mile. He’s got a couple of smart entries for later in the year that are still sort of pending, including the Futurity Trophy back at Doncaster, which is once again over a mile.

“We’d like to get a run in before then, probably in the Royal Lodge or something like that.”