John Gosden© Photo Healy Racing
John Gosden will wait and see what the weather does before deciding which of his three stable stars will line up in Wednesday’s Juddmonte International at York.
The Clarehaven handler is in the envious position of being able to choose between Eclipse winner Roaring Lion, last year’s Champion Stakes winner Cracksman and St James’s Palace Stakes scorer Without Parole.
However, it is highly unlikely both Cracksman and Without Parole will both run with the former wanting a bit of cut in the ground while the latter needs it quick.
“It’s very much ground dependent. I’ll just leave them in the race and then we’ll just see what the weather does,” said Gosden.
“Anything can happen this time of year — you can get thunderstorms. So let’s just assess it — we’ll probably have to go quite close to the race to work it out.
“Roaring Lion is in good form. He did a public workout at the July Course on Saturday. We are happy with him going into the race.
“We’ve finally had some rain here at Newmarket and Cracksman worked nicely on the Limekilns (on Wednesday), just getting his toe in which he appreciates.
“Without Parole did a breeze. Obviously the Sussex Stakes (lost his unbeaten record) was a somewhat muddling affair to say the least and we have him in mind for the race. But then he does not want to see much rain. He likes top of the ground.
“It is looking like a very interesting race. We’ve plenty of respect for the opposition. Saxon Warrior and Roaring Lion have met before, bringing the three-year-old form there and then you’ve got some very good, rock-solid older horse form.”
