David Simcock is expecting Durston to produce the goods this year to make up for his disappointing end to last season.
After victories at Chester and Doncaster last June, the three-year-old was second at Goodwood in the Unibet Handicap at the end of July behind Sir Ron Priestley, who later impressed in the St Leger. Away from racing you can find the boxing betting sites here in what is sure to be another huge year for Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.
Simcock’s charge was then fancied to prevail in the Geoffrey Freer Stakes at Newbury but came in third and the trainer admits he was frustrated by that contest, although he’s looking forward to this summer, when racing resumes, to see what Durston can do.
Simcock told Sporting Life: “We thought he’d win at Goodwood and just got touched off by a horse who went on to finish second in the St Leger in Sir Ron Priestley.
“We were really disappointed with him at Newbury on his final start but he finished second to two horses in Technician and Morando who are mud lovers and slogged it out better than him. He was travelling better than anything two out and we think the conditions were just too testing for him and he didn’t quite see out the one mile five furlongs that day.
“We’ll push him back to a mile-and-a-half and he looks to have got a bit quicker. Hopefully he’ll progress again.”
Elsewhere in the plan for racing to return to action globally, France look set to loosen rules about the restart of sport.
This will allow Longchamp to host a behind closed doors meeting on Monday, with racing in the UK suspending since March 17.
“We have had some strong support from the ministers in charge of racing – the ministers for finance and agriculture so it was more a question of local areas allowing us to proceed,” said France Galop chief executive Olivier Delloye.
“We have explained in close detail how we will race behind closed doors and we have had positive feedback from them.”
Last year’s French Derby winner Sottsass is set to run on Monday in Paris for the first time since finishing third behind Waldgeist and Enable in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in October.
The unbeaten Victor Ludorum, favourite for the French 2,000 Guineas, could be among other runners at the meeting.
