Lazzat is expected to return to the UK later this season, with the Betfair Sprint Cup identified as the ideal September target prior to British Champions Day the following month.
The four-year-old son of Territories claimed his first top-level triumph in last season’s Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville and, having been purchased by Wathnan Racing prior to last month’s Royal Ascot meeting, delivered at the first time of asking in his new silks when defeating Japanese star Satono Reve in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes.
Trainer Jerome Reynier expects Lazzat will make his next appearance in his native France, defending his title at Deauville, but is also keen to return to England for Haydock’s principal sprint in a couple of months’ time ahead of a second visit to Berkshire.
He said on Monday’s Nick Luck Daily Podcast: “He’s entered in the Sprint Cup and because he won in Ascot and doesn’t mind the ground, he could go for the Champions Sprint in October in Ascot again.
“I don’t think we’re going to travel him outside of Europe this year, we’re planning an international campaign maybe next year as a five-year-old, but he’s been so busy travelling all over the world as a three-year-old last year so we’re going to keep him for the Maurice de Gheest (in August) and some European targets.”
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York’s newly-upgraded Sky Bet City Of York Stakes also features among the gelding’s many current big-race entries, but a trip to the Knavesmire is merely a back-up plan, according to the trainer.
Reynier said: "He's entered because you never know what can happen, and if there's a little setback for the Maurice de Gheest then that will be plan-B, defending his crown in the Maurice de Gheest is the logical next step I would say.
"He came back in really good shape, he’s like a pure athlete and we’re very happy with him. We were thinking he could have run in the July Cup but that would have been a bit too much to ask and we want him to last as long as we can, we’re not making a stallion profile so if he can be competitive for the next couple of years that would be amazing."
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