Doyle excited by Sakrdu claims in Queen Anne Stakes
15 Jun 2020
Top rider says William Haggas-trained Skardu is one of the horses he is most excited about riding at the meeting
At the time of writing Doyle has won on six of his past 13 rides and will partner Skardu in the Queen Anne Stakes on Tuesday.
The first Group 1 race of the meeting will be one of eight contests that fall under the QIPCO British Champions Series umbrella at the meeting this week.
Skardu won his only race as a two-year-old and landed the bet365 Craven Stakes on his return at Newmarket before making the frame in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas, Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas St James’s Palace Stakes and Ladbrokes Celebration Mile.
It certainly got the pulse racing! 😮
Under @the_doyler, Skardu maintained his unbeaten record and repelled the challenge of Momkin to win the 2019 bet365 Craven Stakes… pic.twitter.com/GY497pptjk
— Newmarket Racecourse (@NewmarketRace) April 15, 2020
Doyle said: “One that I’m looking forward to is Skardu. He dipped his toes in against the Classic generation last year and ran good races in both Guineas plus the St James’s Palace. He ran badly at Goodwood towards the backend and nothing came to light but maybe that just wasn’t his track.
“He’s in great nick. I rode him in his last piece of work, which was pretty strong, and I was really pleased. He’s moving fantastic and it feels like he’s peaking for the meeting plus we know he definitely runs well fresh, as he came out and won the Craven first time up last year.”