Keatley excited for Hell Of A Spin’s future
The Naval Crown colt only found Libertango too good in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.
Adrian Keatley is excited to see what Hell Of A Spin can achieve next season following his excellent run at the Breeders’ Cup.
Placed in the Molecomb, the Gimcrack and the Middle Park Stakes on home soil earlier in the year, the Naval Crown colt headed Stateside for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint and ran a fantastic race to finish best of the rest behind George Boughey’s star juvenile filly Libertango.
North Yorkshire-based Keatley is confident Hell Of A Spin will have more to give as a three-year-old next season, with the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot an obvious major target.
“It was a great run and we bumped into a bit of a freak, I’d say. That filly (Libertango) is very, very good and giving her a few pounds caught us out and didn’t give us a chance of beating her, but obviously we were delighted with the run,” he said.
“He’s a proper horse to look forward to next year. Phillipa (Griffin, owner) is having a great time with him, he’s earned plenty of money and he’s a horse she can look forward to now in the spring.
“We’ll target one of the trials, there’s the race there in Haydock (Sandy Lane Stakes). We’ll target one of the trials with a view to going for the Commonwealth Cup, but we’ll see where we are at that stage.
“He’s big enough and strong enough and ultra-consistent. His sire didn’t win a Group One win until he was four and on the dam’s side he has an Aga Khan pedigree, so there is plenty of stoutness there and he’s a tough cookie, so there is no reason why he wouldn’t train on.”
With the Flat season now winding down, Keatley will now switch his focus to his small team of National Hunt horses, which include the high-class Indian River.
The four-year-old was placed at Grade One level at Aintree in the spring and was last seen finishing second to Dan Skelton’s North Shore at Cheltenham last month.
Keatley added: “We’ve nothing much left for the Flat season and we’ll drive on over the winter with the jumpers. We’ve only about a dozen or so, but they’re not a bad bunch of horses.
“Indian River had a tough enough race in Cheltenham so we’ll give it a few weeks before we make any definite plans. We could go back to Aintree with him, but we’ll just sit back for a while with him now.”