Oisin Murphy will reunite with Saeed bin Suroor’s 1000 Guineas heroine Mawj in Keeneland on Saturday night when she lines up for the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup.
Off the track since beating Dermot Weld’s Tahiyra to claim Classic honours at Newmarket, Bin Suroor has elected to take the battle-hardened three-year-old Stateside for her comeback run.
She has reportedly settled well in Kentucky and the Godolphin trainer is optimistic his charge is in a good place ahead of her tilt at the $600,000 contest over a mile and a furlong.
“She has arrived there and is out of quarantine and away now to the stables,” said Bin Suroor. “She is looking good, is in good form and happy, and we are looking forward to running her Saturday. Oisin Murphy is going over to ride and so far is so good. She has done her main work in Newmarket and Oisin rode her in her last piece of work on the Limekilns round gallop. We’re hoping we will see good results from her again.
“She will have to be in a good position in the race, but as usual I like to have my horses handy and if she is somewhere close I would be happy. Oisin knows her well and so far so good.”
Mawj will have further US assignments on the agenda in just under a month’s time, with the outcome of her performance in Keeneland set to help formulate running plans for the Breeders’ Cup where she could stick to a mile or stretch out to 10 furlongs for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
“She could go for the Mile or the Filly & Mare,” continued the trainer. “It is between the two races and we will see. We have to see which horses are running and which race might suit her.”
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