Field Of Gold won’t be rushed back to racecourse action despite being physically “sound” again, having been found to be lame in the aftermath of last month’s Sussex Stakes.
The Juddmonte-owned grey, trained by John and Thady Gosden, was said to be suffering with pain in a joint after coming home fourth of seven behind shock winner Qirat in the Goodwood Group 1.
That odds-on disappointment came on the back of top-class victories in the Irish 2,000 Guineas at the Curragh and the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, where he was hailed in some quarters as potentially the best miler we’ve seen since Frankel.
Speaking on Wednesday’s Nick Luck Daily Podcast, Gosden senior said: “The good news is that he’s come sound. There was considerable filling there and that in itself is pretty well diminished now and so we’re gingerly finding our way forward again, we just started a bit of trotting and we may possibly be able to do an easy canter next week.
“But we’re just one step at a time, it was certainly a significant enough injury. It’s looking like it was a bad wrench of the joint.
“He was lame the next morning but fortunately two sets of X-rays and an ultrasound scan have come back clean so that’s good news and we put it back to somewhere in the race, him wrenching it – the hind joint – and it was noticeable that he didn’t quite level off, he was slightly lugging right in the end which means he was probably shifting the weight off it.
“We will see what we have in store for him in the future but we won’t be rushing back to any races right now.”
When asked if we are likely to see Field Of Gold on course before the end of the year, Gosden said: “Very much so, that would be the aim. He’s got a great mind on him, he’s very relaxed and from that point of view he’s a pleasure to train.”
Gosden may be sitting on his hands with ace three-year-old Field Of Gold, but he is able to prepare some other stable stars for next week’s Sky Bet Ebor Festival at York.
Ombudsman, winner of the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes in June, will look to atone for a near-miss behind Delacroix in last month’s Coral-Eclipse when he faces the same rival in the Juddmonte International Stakes, while Gold Cup hero Trawlerman is also expected to be back in action for the Lonsdale Cup.
Gosden said: “Ombudsman has just done a nice piece of work this morning with William Buick onboard and Trawlerman is likewise, building up to York, and I was pleased with his work this morning.”
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