Ascot next for potential Leger candidate Golden Story

Karl Burke has half an eye on the St Leger for Goodwood scorer Golden Story, who he believes still has a few more chapters to write, beginning at Royal Ascot.

A winner of a warm Doncaster maiden last autumn, he was pitched into the Dee Stakes for his seasonal return and put what he learned behind Aidan O’Brien’s Constitution River at Chester to good use when scooping Listed honours in the Listed Cocked Hat Stakes.

Burke explained: “He’s a lovely horse, but very much a work in progress and we made a decision with his owner Sheikh Rashid to run him at Goodwood as he needed the experience and he would learn so much.

“Pierre-Louis Jamin is very good from the front and very good at getting horses in a good rhythm and also rides Goodwood really well.

“The idea was always to go to the front, use his stride and teach him something.”

With a tilt at the Derby deemed to come too soon in Golden Story’s career, it will be the King Edward VII Stakes next for the half-brother to the useful Arabian Storm – and he could get a taste of Classic action at Doncaster later in the year.

Burke added: “Obviously if we were thinking of the Derby – and he was entered in the Derby – that makes the Goodwood race close and it would have been three quick runs for a raw horse which would not be ideal.

“We made the decision to go to Goodwood and then on to Royal Ascot which will give him that bit of extra time and he’s a horse who stays really well.

“His brother who is trained by William Haggas stays a mile and a half really well and this fellow is probably going to get even further.

“He’ll go to the King Edward VII and he will stay that trip really well. He could even be a Leger horse later in the year and I think he could be that type of horse if we look after him properly.”