Masar thriving ahead of Coral-Eclipse at Sandown
Charlie Appleby feels Masar is thriving on racing ahead of his run in Saturday's Coral-Eclipse.
The colt will attempt to become only the fifth Investec Derby winner in the past 50 years to follow-up in the Sandown Group One. Masar will already be having his fifth run of the season but his Newmarket-based trainer believes he has never been better.
"We do tend to look after and protect them (the horses) but he’s thriving on his racing," the trainer told the QIPCO British Champion Series. "However he runs on Saturday, he looks as good if not better now than before the Derby. Physically, he’s doing well and he’s becoming a very professional sportsman."
Appleby points to him competing at the Breeders’ Cup last November, when he was a close sixth in the Juvenile Turf after not enjoying the rub of the green, as being pivotal in his development.
"It helped him, there’s no doubt about it,” he said. “We’ve seen it for years with Coolmore and Ballydoyle - they travel their horses all over the world and they just seem to get stronger. Mentally it [the travelling] makes them stronger and those who don’t stress so much put condition on, so then the body becomes stronger. That’s part of the game - in any sport you need mental resolve and that’s what he has."
Masar will be dropping to a mile and a quarter and the ground seems certain to be faster than it was at Epsom with no end to the hot spell of weather in sight.
"It doesn’t phase me dropping back to ten furlongs and the sounder the surface the better. His stride length is amazing."
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