Saddler's Rock 'tailor-made' for Ascot Gold Cup John Oxx believes Saddler's Rock has the right credentials to develop into a serious contender for the Ascot Gold Cup. The three-year-old showed plenty of the qualities needed when taking the scalp of seasoned stayer Opinion Poll in the Doncaster Cup on Friday. "We fancied him for the race. He had a really good run in the Irish St Leger trial at the Curragh a few weeks earlier," the Currabeg trainer told At The Races. "He was quite unlucky there and that was the race that opened our eyes to that possibility. "We knew he would stay two miles very well and hoped he'd get the extra bit. "He's a horse with a turn of foot. When he gets a crack with the whip he takes off. As soon as he got that he changed gear and off he went to win. "He's a good horse and I think he'll be an Ascot Gold Cup contender. He may not run anymore this year. "He hasn't got too many entries. He's in the Group Two on Arc Saturday, but he's a Sadler's Wells, who likes good, fast ground. "He doesn't seem to handle the soft. He didn't last springtime when we tried him on it. "Time will tell, maybe he will handle soft better as he gets older, but it's a little unusual he likes top of the ground, but he's tailor-made for the Ascot Gold Cup, I thought."
