Denis Hogan has revealed both Make A Challenge and Sceptical are in contention to race at Naas in the Woodland Stakes on June 8.
For most of the world, horse racing has been suspended since mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic but there have been shoots of revival in recent weeks, with France and Germany both holding meetings since May 11.
Olivier Delloye, CEO of France Galop, did reveal on Tuesday that contingency plans have been brought in after the government’s decision to cancel racing in certain high-risk areas, but no fixtures are expected to be lost.
There is a strong hope that racing can return to UK and Irish shores next month, with UK meetings set to start from June 1 and Irish action scheduled to resume a week later.
One of those fixtures comes from Naas, on June 8, and Hogan is set to unleash two of his stable stars, Make A Challenge and Woodland, in the Woodland Stakes before a potential trip to Royal Ascot.
“We’ll have a look at the Listed race on the first day at Naas for him, but we could also have a look at that for Sceptical too,” he was quoted as saying by the Irish Examiner. “It would be a nice starting point for the two of them, although it is close to Royal Ascot.
“We’re thinking we’ll definitely run one in Naas, but we’ll look at the ground and you might think Make A Challenge might want a bit of rain. We will see how that goes though and then think about the King’s Stand Stakes.”
