Jamie Osborne says White Birch is ready to go after his new recruit was declared for the Listed Weatherbys August Stakes at Windsor on Saturday.
The six-year-old hasn’t been seen since switching stables from Joe Murphy last autumn and has been gelded and had wind surgery since he was down the field in last year’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
But after 328 days off the track, Osborne is hopeful the Group 1-winning grey son of Ulysses is fit enough to do himself justice in the extended 1m3f contest.
“I suppose we are just ready to start,” Osborne said on the Nick Luck Daily Podcast. “It’s taken some time to get into this position.
“We put him through a couple of traumas initially, firstly castrating him and then giving his wind a tweak. He just wasn’t thriving through the spring, I wasn’t happy with how he looked.
“We’ve taken our time, allowed it to happen organically.
“He’s ready to get started now, he looks very well and his work has been very good. Thankfully, it looks like the rain has arrived in time.”
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Osborne said he and the new owners Barratt Racing thought long and hard about gelding him considering his Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup win, but that ultimately he was bought to race.
“It was a finely-balanced decision, but I took advice from the stallion men and there was a consensus that he had a limited value and opportunity as a stallion. We bought him to race and have some sport with.
“To give him the best chance of achieving that he was probably better off as a gelding.
“Saturday is a starting point that will hopefully answer a few questions.
“He’s a sweet character but he has a few little quirks. We’ve done a couple of gallops where you go, look, I can see it now. I don’t think he’ll ever be tremendously flash at home but that’s fine.
“We can have a couple of years sport out of him and hopefully he can go to some nice places. We can enjoy him.”
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