Clive Cox insists Nando Parrado's 150/1 success in the Coventry Stakes was no surprise, pointing out the colt was his main two-year-old hope for Royal Ascot all spring.
Punters lost faith after his debut defeat at Newmarket but connections were confident there was a valid excuse for that.
"That was a very exciting success – not a shock at all really because we did really fancy him in as much as we had to nominate horses that would get a free passage on the ballot mark to go to Ascot and he was my number one choice. So he wasn’t a surprise – he’s a beautiful colt," the trainer told Paddy Power Media's podcast, From The Horse’s Mouth
"He didn’t handle Newmarket first time out as well as we might have anticipated and so he thrived when he came back from there and did the job supremely at Ascot. He clearly didn’t mind the slightly easier ground and that was fine.
"He really did it the hard way making all the running at Ascot and I would say he has entries but I’d say another couple of weeks before we decide everything – he is in the Papin but I think that’s probably unlikely."
The Prix Morny has been mooted as one possible target and he is currently a 5/1 chance for that with Paddy Power.
To listen in full to the podcast head here: podfollow.com/horsesmouth
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