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Trainer not put off by possible presence of high-profile rivals
Martyn Meade will stick to his guns with Advertise despite the Darley Dewhurst Stakes shaping up to be one of the races of the season.
Since being narrowly beaten by Calyx in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot, the Showcasing colt has run out an impressive winner of the July Stakes at Newmarket and grabbed Group One glory in the Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh.
Meade immediately nominated the Dewhurst on October 13 as Advertise’s big end-of-season target.
And while Too Darn Hot, Quorto and Sangarius have all emerged as potential rivals in the last week, the Manton handler has no intention of switching his charge to the Juddmonte Middle Park next week, for which he is the second-favourite with some firms.
Meade said: “He had the Middle Park entry months ago, but the plan has always been to go to the Dewhurst after the Phoenix.
“Although he is entered in the Middle Park, that is not the plan as we don’t want to run him back over six furlongs. The whole idea is to try and stretch him to seven and see if he will get a bit further as a three-year-old.
“There are all piling into the Dewhurst now, but it was our original plan. Now you are seeing all these really good horses popping in and it looks like it will be a really good Dewhurst.
“As it was our original plan we will stick to it and I see no reason to abandon it.”
Meade believes Advertise could be turning into a forgotten horse, adding: “I think what has happened is as you get closer to the race, people remember what happened last week or the week before.
“Something that happened a month before is forgotten about and therefore we haven’t seen him, so he has probably gone to the back of people’s mind.
“Some of the horses that are more fancied than he is have had pretty tough races. We’ve had a nice break and that was the whole point of going to the Dewhurst after Ireland, as it was a good distance between the two races.
“He has been out for a bit and we are gradually getting him going now.”
