McGivern targets Sapphire Stakes with Kendall Roy Katie McGivern will step up her stable star Kendall Roy to Group company for the first time at the Curragh on July 18, with the trainer hoping the current dry spell of weather continues, in the hope of competing on fast ground. The five-year-old initially won four of his opening five handicap races and having also scored at Bahrain last December, returned following a break to land the Listed Midsummer Sprint Stakes last month. That Cork success was Kendall Roy’s first attempt at stakes company, and now McGivern is upping the gelding to Group 2 level, in the Sapphire Stakes in 15 days. McGivern reports "This weather is due to last this week and into next week so, if it can last one more week, he is 100 per cent going to the Sapphire Stakes in the Curragh. It is a Group 2 and it is made for him, so I just hope the ground doesn't go. I'm not saying he won't go on it, but he's kind of unexposed on softer. "He was meant to go to Sandown this weekend, but I didn't go because the entries were strong and I think he then wouldn't be a fresh horse going into the Sapphire, so I'm saving him. "He was very good the last day, but he is always very good. He only ever does as much as needs. Even working, you could work him with a 50-rated horse, and he would only beat it like a length, and it is the exact same in his races. That is why he has been such a good servant, he never runs too well." Quotes from Michael Graham
