Ruling Court could have Classic ambitions after Dubai spell

Charlie Appleby has not lost any faith in Ruling Court, who sprang to prominence in the ante-post Classic markets following a scintillating debut at Sandown in July.

The Justify colt cost €2,300,000 at the Arqana breeze-up sale and bolted up by five lengths on his debut, with the now 111-rated Stanhope Gardens back in third.

He was a beaten even-money favourite in the Acomb Stakes on his only other outing, but the winner, Aidan O’Brien’s The Lion In Winter, looks hugely promising and the race worked out exceptionally well.

“He’s done very well. He was a breeze-up horse so we gave him a bit of time before he ran in his Sandown maiden and he did what he did,” said Appleby.

“It was always our target to look towards the Acomb, and full credit to the race planning team with the conditions of the race changing – that race will only get better year on year.

“What we saw with Aidan’s horse winning (The Lion In Winter), James Owen’s horse in second (Wimbledon Hawkeye) who went on and progressed throughout the season. We felt that was the strongest juvenile race of the season until the Dewhurst.

“He’s done well out in Dubai. We felt that the training conditions out there would suit him and he’s on target to run in the (Jumeirah) 2000 Guineas on Super Saturday (March 5). We could potentially look at the 2000 Guineas nearer the time. I think he will stretch out beyond a mile, so it’s whether we look at him as a Guineas horse or a Dante horse after his run at Meydan.”

Appleby campaigned plenty of his horses in North America last season, but this year he feels he has a much stronger squad and will mostly be closer to home.

“We campaigned our horses as we did last year, and I was quite open about it, to give ourselves the best chance to win graded races,” he said.

“With the three-year-olds that we’ve got they will most definitely be campaigned in Europe, for sure.

“We were left with a hole a couple of years ago in our older horses, but this year hopefully the likes of Notable Speech, who might start in something like the Lockinge and work towards the Queen Anne, and Arabian Crown, who will be looking at mile-and-a-half races, will fill the gap.

“You’ve got to have a good one to go and win them, you can’t just turn up. I just felt we didn’t have that, but hopefully this year we will have.”