Roger Charlton excited about future targets for Headman including potential Irish Champion Stakes bid

The three-year-old son of Kingman has followed up his win in the highly competitive London Gold Cup Handicap at Newbury in May with back-to-back Group Two victories in France, and the Beckhampton trainer is now considering a tilt at the Group One QIPCO Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown.

That target has yet to be fully confirmed, though, with Charlton preferring to take a long-term view with the progressive Juddmonte-bred colt.

Charlton told sportinglife.com: "From the moment the horse arrived in the yard we always had a feeling he might be star quality. He's a very good-looking horse and a very well-bred horse.

"As the season has unveiled, we've all seen Kingman's progeny doing spectacularly well. He has lots of nice three-year-olds, both colts and fillies, and his two-year-olds have done well.

"Headman has got a lot of class about him and he's a good-moving horse. He's been a bit keen to deal with initially, he was hard to saddle at Newbury at the start of the season, he was like a bull in a china shop beforehand back then but then when we put a saddle on him at Deauville he was completely relaxed.

"He's travelled twice which isn't ideal for a young horse and the first time (at Saint-Cloud) was that very hot weekend, they got stuck on the way down to the coast so he had a long, arduous, hot journey. I thought he won really stylishly - what he beat I don't know but he won in great style.

"Deauville was a different thing. You're always expecting a lack of pace there and none of the horses in the race had made the running before. I told Jason (Watson) to ride him with confidence and to sit last and we'll leave the rest to you.

"He got a slightly slow break and then he was bumped out a bit which set him off a little, we then had to drop behind again and it's fair to say there was a moment we thought he wasn't going to get there.

"I think it's huge credit to the horse that he did get there, it's very difficult when you have to make up two and a half, three lengths, when horses are quickening in front of you. Especially for a jockey who has only had two winners in France - from two rides in France, both on Headman. He didn't panic and the horse showed a turn of foot.

"It was a classy performance in circumstances that didn't suit him. He's got a long stride and he needs a decent gallop. And he needs fast ground - the ground was soft - so I was thrilled and I think we have a really exciting horse for next year.

"It's possible he could run in the Irish Champion Stakes but it's only possible. It means travelling again obviously and it will be a much tougher race.

"I think there's an argument to say we wait for next April or May and maybe go to Sandown with no penalty and then consider races like the Tattersalls Gold Cup, the same as we did with Al Kazeem twice.

"Then you have lovely races like the Prince Of Wales's Stakes, Coral-Eclipse and Juddmonte International. That's the dream and we'll treat the horse with all the respect he deserves. It (Leopardstown) will be discussed with connections, it's not my choice and I can only advise, and we'll build him into a proper horse."

Charlton knows exactly what's required to win the Irish Champion Stakes, having taken the 2017 edition with Decorated Knight, while the trainer sees some similarities between Headman and another former stable who won four Group Ones for the yard, including two in Ireland.

Charlton said: "He's a very big horse and, like Al Kazeem, won the London Gold Cup. As a three-year-old Al Kazeem was placed in the Great Voltigeur but his life didn't really unravel until much later on.

"This horse is bigger than Al Kazeem, there is no reason why he shouldn't improve and therefore we want to make a stallion. He's won two Group Twos, now we want to give everyone the best chance to get the proper result and if we get rid of some of the better older horses that are around at the moment, maybe those Group One races next year we will have a chance in."

It's been a relatively quiet season for Charlton in general but the past three weeks has seen a significant upturn in strike-rate, with Headman a major contributor to that success.

At a much lower level - for the time being at least - Quadrilateral looks a name to follow following her debut success at Newbury on August 16 and Charlton is keen to plot the right path with her, another in the famous green, pink and white silks of Juddmonte Farms.

"I was pleased with her," said the trainer. "She's a very strong, nice-looking filly. She's a Frankel who seems to be having a Group winner every week.

"She's a classy filly, there seems to be a little bit of nervous energy there. I trained her dam who was fairly average who won narrowly at Wolverhampton, and I trained her half-brother who wasn't great. The rest of the family are good - Three Valleys comes to mind. And I was really impressed with her at Newbury.

"The favourite didn't show up that day but she beat a colt who had already run twice and the ground was quite testing. We thought here she would improve for the race and I wasn't expecting her to win like that.

"She needs to run in a conditions race and depending on how that goes, she then has a Group Two entry (Rockfel Stakes) and a Group One entry in France.

"It's a long way off to say we're anywhere near that yet but she's classy and exciting."

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