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New Wathnan-backed Newmarket trainer a ‘danger’ to rivals as he gets sent their stable stars
Wathnan are eyeing up a huge end to the season
ED WALKER has lost a big Gun — and he says other trainers may soon run out of ammo from Qatar’s Wathnan Racing.
Walker recently saw promising colt Midnight Gun sent to Newmarket newcomer Hamad Al Jehani.
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And, while Walker still has Wathnan’s English Oak to look forward to at Goodwood next week, he knows the cashed-up Qataris are set on backing Al Jehani.
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It means more trainers on the Wathnan roster are set to lose stable stars — while yearlings they could have expected at the end of the season may now not arrive.
Walker said: “They are trying to fill Hamad up a bit, which might be a bit of a danger for us.
“I imagine there are plenty of trainers on the roster and they might slim it down.”
Al Jehani, champion trainer in his home nation, moved to England in May and started with a string of 15 horses.
But his numbers are being increased by the big-spending racing operation of the Emir Of Qatar.
Last week, they bought Kevin Ryan’s flying two-year-old The Strikin Viking, named after Erling Haaland, after he was second in a Group 2 and sent him to Al Jehani.
He followed Walker’s beautifully-bred and improving three-year-old Midnight Gun who was bought after bolting up at Newmarket.
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Walker said: “Wathnan have a big squad and I hope we stay on the team sheet.
“We don’t know yet what they are going to do. Are they going to buy yearlings in October and send us one or two? I would love to think so, but we will have to see.
“You can understand where they are coming from.
“Hamad is their man in Qatar and they want him to succeed in the UK.
“It’s a shame to lose a lovely horse like Midnight Gun. At the moment we have one horse with them and he has been a success.”
That one horse is the hugely exciting English Oak, who formed part of Wathnan’s four-timer at Royal Ascot last month when he bagged the Buckingham Palace Stakes.
The four-year-old looked like a Group horse in a handicap that day and he will get the chance to prove it at Glorious Goodwood in the Lennox Stakes next week, for which he is as short as 4-1.
Walker added: “He’s in good nick, everything has gone smoothly since Ascot. It’s a big step up in grade but I think he is up to it.
“We think the seven furlongs around Goodwood will suit him and I hope this nice warm, dry spell continues for him. He’s certainly a very talented horse, we don’t know where his ceiling is yet.”
Meanwhile, unlucky Ascot second King’s Gambit is on course for Saturday’s Group 2 York Stakes.
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