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Decorated Knight delights Roger Charlton in Kempton spin

3 minute read

Decorated Knight stepped up his preparations for a tilt at next month's Winter Derby Trial at Lingfield with a racecourse gallop at Kempton Park on Tuesday.

Decorated Knight Picture: Racing and Sports

The Roger Charlton-trained five-year-old participated in a solo spin over a mile at the Sunbury track under George Baker ahead of the Listed contest on February 4.

After claiming a Group Three in Ireland in July the son of Galileo saw his season cut short when sustaining an injury in the build-up to the Arlington Million.

Charlton said: "It was nice of Kempton to let us do this before racing. Decorated Knight is probably going to run in the Winter Derby Trial at Lingfield. After that he could run in the Winter Derby or go to Dubai for the race that Cityscape won (Dubai Turf).

"He is about 20 kilograms above his racing weight. He has done incredibly well since last year and he will probably come on for that. George Baker was very pleased and said he was very relaxed.

"He has not run since Leopardstown, as he got injured when he went for the Arlington Million. He injured himself in the box and cut his leg badly. He is fine now, we just ran out of time last year.

"Hopefully he is a nice fresh horse. He has never run on the all-weather, so it will be interesting to see."

A trip to Dubai remains on the cards for Group One winner Quest For More for a shot at the Dubai Gold Cup.

He added: "He probably won't have a prep race and he will probably go straight for the Dubai Gold Cup.

"He looks extremely well and will probably have a couple of spins around here (Kempton). He will then travel out there the week before."