Spackler sparkling with QEII date on the horizon

Carl Spackler has the opportunity to cap a memorable fortnight for owner Yuesheng Zhang when going for Queen Elizabeth II Stakes glory at Ascot on Saturday.

The Chinese owner-breeder, who has enjoyed notable success in Australia with the likes of Via Sistina and won the Irish Oaks with Magical Lagoon in 2022, landed his first British Group One when Gewan sprung a 25-1 shock in the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday.

He now sees his green and white silks in top-level action once again when his decorated American import makes his first start for John and Thady Gosden on Qipco British Champions Day.

“We’re relishing the opportunity to run a really good horse of ours on track again,” said Zhang’s bloodstock and racing manager Paul Curran.

“It’s massive for us to be having a runner on British Champions Day on the back of Gewan last weekend, it’s really exciting.

“We’re looking forward to the challenge and seeing if he can put his best foot forward on Saturday. It would be remarkable if we could follow up winning the most prestigious two-year-old race of the season with a big run in one of the best Queen Elizabeth II Stakes there has been in a while.”

The winner of eight of his 12 starts for Chad Brown in America, which included three Grade Ones, Carl Spackler first sported Zhang’s colours when not disgraced in sixth behind Docklands in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Both that run and a further taste of the British scene when running in the Sussex Stakes came under the name of Ciaron Maher, but with plans of shipping to Australia since abandoned in favour of remaining in the UK, he has settled in pleasingly into his new surroundings at Clarehaven.

The owners now hope Carl Spackler can replicate his Stateside best to prove the the fly in the ointment to new stablemate and big-race favourite Field Of Gold.

“He’s had a good bit of time to settle in at John and Thady’s and he’s working really well,” continued Curran.

“We’ve given him the time and he’s been there quite a while now. They are really sweet on him and obviously he’s a very good horse, he didn’t come here as an unproven one and has done what he’s done in America.

“They are really happy and looking forward to running him as much as we are and hopefully he can emulate his form in America and we can see the true potential of him.”

The QEII is indeed shaping up to be a high-class renewal and Roger Teal is set to let Dancing Gemini take his chance, willing his charge to rediscover the form he showed in the early part of the campaign.

A winner at both Doncaster, Sandown and second in the Lockinge before the end of May, he left a below-par run at Royal Ascot behind him when third in the Prix Jacques le Marois, but has questions to answer once again after faltering in the Prix du Moulin.

Teal told Sky Sports Racing: “His bloods were all wrong when he came back from France, so we’ve sorted that and he’s back on form now.

“The piece of work he did on Saturday morning was very encouraging – I haven’t seen him work like that for a long while, so it was very pleasing to see.

“He improved from Doncaster to Sandown and obviously went down fighting in the Lockinge. It was a great start to to the season.

“It (Champions Day) is normally run in a bog so it’s going to be totally different this year. It’s going to be on the quicker side, which is not his best ground – good to soft is perfect for him. We’ll just have to see what happens on the day.

“Kieran Shoemark rides him. Rossa (Ryan) is on Tamfana (for David Menuisier) – Kieran knows him and he’s free, so it’s his chance.”