Frost At Dawn in line for King George Qatar Stakes at Goodwood

The Newmarket handler will aim the daughter of Frosted at the Group Two five furlong dash on August 1, for which she is a general 7/1 chance.

After tasting Listed glory in the Women In Racing/British EBF Cecil Frail Stakes over six furlongs at Haydock Park the Abdulla Al Mansoori-owned filly was pitched back into a Group One in the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot.

On that occasion she found only the Jim Goldie-trained American Affair too strong, which was her third runner-up result from six starts this year.

And with that fine effort in defeat still fresh in his mind Knight hopes his talented filly can now go one better at the Sussex track next month before returning to the top table for a tilt at the Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes at York.

Knight said: “The plan is to go to the King George at Goodwood. Putting the headgear back on her has just helped her focus and obviously it was a career best at Royal Ascot the other day.

"We have always thought a lot of her, as you can see in the way I’ve placed her, but it is nice that she has shown what I think she can do.

“I feel we will stick to five furlongs so she will then go to the Nunthorpe, and she will get a Prix de l’Abbaye entry, and we would then like to go back to the Breeders’ Cup.”

While confident Frost At Dawn would be at home at Ascot, Knight admits at having slight reservations over the downhill nature of the track at Goodwood. But Knight feels that the state of the ground would have a much bigger bearing opposed to the nature of the track.

He added: “I think she really liked Ascot and I always thought she would. My slight concern with Goodwood is that she is coming down hill as she hasn’t really done that before, but she is a well balanced horse.

“I’ve only ever really run her on flat tracks really, however I think she will cope fine and I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t.

“I think the key is the ground though as she doesn’t want it to tip down with rain and we end up with soft ground.”

Although on a personal note Knight was gutted at coming so close to training a first Group One at the Royal meeting he admits it was a result that plenty of positives can be taken from.

He added: “My emotions straight after that was damn and I was actually annoyed as you don’t get many of those opportunities. I thought it was one that went begging, but having watched a replay I think Jim’s (Goldie) horse won fair and square.

“At the time it was annoying as it would have been nice to have bagged my first Group One winner at Royal Ascot. On reflection from it all she has now proven she can run at that level and be very competitive."

With Frost At Dawn’s value enhanced even more after her last run it could be that this season is her last on track. And with that in mind Knight is even more keen to turn her into a Group One winner before the year is out.

He added: “I think her owner is quite keen for her to go to the breeding shed and he has got Gun Runner pencilled in for her, but we will have that discussion on her retirement later on. Because of that if we could make her a Group One winner now that would be fantastic."

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