Cheltenham hero Keane has powerful Juddmonte team to look forward to

Fresh from success at the Cheltenham Festival, Colin Keane can begin to look forward to some of the ammunition Juddmonte will have this summer, as plans begin to be formulated for some of their aces.

The multiple Irish champion spread his wings for a first ever ride at Prestbury Park when successfully landing the Champion Bumper aboard Noel Meade’s The Mourne Rambler. But soon he will be back in the famous silks as retained rider for the Abdullah family, with the first Classics coming into range.

Exciting home bred Publish is one carrying hopes ahead of his three-year-old season and, as short as 8-1 in places for the Betfred 2000 Guineas, will put his aspirations to the test in the early part of the campaign.

Barry Mahon, European racing manager for Juddmonte, said: “We hope Publish will be fit and well enough to take in a trial and that will tell us where we go with him. He’s a horse we’ve always liked from a yearling, as he’s a beautiful physical, a big, imposing horse.

“We’re hoping he’ll be a better three-year-old than two-year-old, but he will need to be. If all goes to plan we’ll have him lined up in a trial before then stepping up into a better race, whether that be the 2000 Guineas or the Irish and French Guineas or something else.

“It’s a bit premature to be talking about Guineas really, but he seems to be in good shape and we look forward to seeing him in a trial.”

Publish is trained by John and Thady Gosden, who provided Keane with a particularly notable success in the Juddmonte silks with Field Of Gold throughout 2025.

Keane linked up with the colt to land the Irish 2,000 Guineas before rubber-stamping his role as Juddmonte number one by guiding the striking grey to a spellbinding victory in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.

That would be the son of Kingman’s final victory before an injury sustained at Goodwood in the Sussex Stakes limited him to just one more outing before the end of the season. But he is back in training at four, with an obvious pathway marked out.

“He’s just starting to do a bit more and John and Thady are happy with him. The route for a four-year-old Group One miler is pretty clear and we’ll just have to see when he is fit and discuss it,” continued Mahon.

“Whether that is the Lockinge or another prep before the Queen Anne, I’m not sure at this stage, but there’s a route laid out for that type of horse.”

Also back in training is the Andrew Balding-trained Kalpana, who having won on British Champions Day for the second year running in October, is sure to have Ascot appearing on her agenda once again.

Mahon added: “She’s back and is in good form again. She probably won’t start back until a little later in the year and the second half of the season is what we will concentrate on with her.

“Andrew thinks she has done well between four and five and we’ll get going with her when we can and hopefully Ascot can figure in her plans somewhere, as she seems to like it round there.”

Meanwhile, the Juddmonte team were delighted to see Keane cross the divide with his victory at the Cheltenham Festival, hoping it will ultimately prove a sign of things to come aboard Juddmonte’s powerful squad during the warmer months of the year.

“It was brilliant for Colin and he would have plenty of National Hunt roots from his father who’s a dual-purpose trainer, so he’ll have done plenty of schooling I’d imagine when he was younger,” said Mahon.

“I thought he gave the winner a marvellous ride and he was well trained by Noel Meade and it was a great result all round.

“It’s all about confidence with sportsmen and to see him riding a big winner on a big day is great looking ahead to the summer.”

He added: “It is very early days and the Juddmonte horses are only just beginning to step up their preparations now. They’ve done their routine canters through the winter and come through that well, but in terms of knowing where we lie with ability and stuff it is still very much early days.”