Oli Rix is hopeful Mr Macartney can make his presence felt in Saturday’s Dubai Duty Free Mill Reef Stakes.
The juvenile has kept good company since winning a Leicester maiden in May, finishing seventh in the Norfolk and sixth in the Markel Richmond Stakes on his last two starts.
The trainer accepts the market principals will be tough nuts to crack, but following a gelding operation he hopes there’s more to come from his charge.
“It will be a very hard race to win but it’s great to be taking part in a race like that and with some of his collateral form if he improves from being gelded, which I think he has, he could be in the mix-up,” he told Sky Sports Racing.
“I think Arapaho Gold and Andrew’s filly (Jolivete) are going to be tough to beat, they look very obvious to be at the top of the betting, but there’s no reason to think we couldn’t beat the rest of the field in there.”
Saturday’s race will help connections decide whether to step Mr Macartney up in trip next time too.
“We’ve toyed with the idea of seven. I think we’ll just see how he goes on Saturday. There are plenty of options afterwards over seven as well, something like the Horris Hill back at Newbury or there’s a race he qualifies for having won the restricted novice which is worth a hundred grand at York we could go for as well,” Rix said.
“They’re both over seven and if he ran well, we could run him in the conditions race on Champions Day at Ascot over six if we wanted to stick at six so we’ve plenty of options.”
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