The Paul Lafferty-trained stalwart Unbelievable Chad will gallop over 1400m at Scottsville on Sunday half-an-hour before the first race, with a pacemaker, in preparation for the Gr 3 Graham Beck Stakes over 1400m on October 31.
Unbelievable Chad, a highly promising Toreador colt who is part-owned by the Olympic Gold medal swimming legend Chad le Clos, will represent Lafferty in the yard’s defence of their crown in this race as they won it last year with the Australian-bred colt Harry’s Son.
Meanwhile the apple of Lafferty’s eye Harry’s Son is still doing extremely well in Mauritius and Lafferty added, “Perhaps too well”, implying that he is itching to race.
The Haradasun colt will land in England at the beginning of November and will be staying in trainer Jim Boyle’s yard at Epsom. Boyle, a great friend of Lafferty’s, is in his thirties and is also a qualified veterinarian so Harry’s Son will be in good hands.
Furthermore, Lafferty’s house in the UK is close to the Epsom race track, which will make Harry’s Son’s base in England convenient for Lafferty’s assistant trainer Roy Waugh. Waugh will be taking care of Harry’s Son and training him on the Epsom Downs during the final leg of the horse’s journey to his destination of Dubai. Lafferty will be an official trainer at next year’s Dubai Carnival and has secured another horse to campaign with, the three-year-old USA-bred Warfront colt Royal Navy Ship.
This colt won on debut as a two-year-old for Aiden O’Brien over seven furlongs at The Curragh and followed up by finishing second over the same trip in a Gr 3 at Leopardstown. Royal Navy Ship has not won as a three-year-old yet, but has an official turf rating of 102 and all weather rating of 97, which qualifies him for Dubai. He will land in England at the same time as Harry’s Son and join him at Epsom under the care of Waugh.
By David Thiselton
Picture: Unbelievable Chad (Nkosi Hlophe)