The King and Queen Consort will not be bidding for Classic glory on Coronation Day after their horse Slipofthepen was withdrawn from Saturday’s Qipco 2,000 Guineas.
Two impressive all-weather wins at Kempton from the John and Thady Gosden-trained promising colt had raised the prospect that the three-year-old could become his royal owners' first Classic runner.
The colt was even given a racecourse gallop on Newmarket’s Rowley Mile last week, but was not included among the 15 horses left in the first Classic of the season on Monday. They are headed by the Aidan O’Brie-trained pair Auguste Rodin and Little Big Bear.
Speaking on Nick Luck’s Daily Podcast, the King’s racing manager John Warren said: “I think we were all hoping for that to be the case (that Slipofthepen would run in the 2000 Guineas), especially because it would have been both the King and the Queen Consort’s first Classic runner.
“But I think once we pieced all the jigsaw together and really analysed his prospects, I think we thought it’s come a little bit too soon. He’s an inexperienced horse who is only just learning how to use his legs as fast as he needs to.
“He’s won two races on the all-weather impressively and John Gosden thinks he’s up to becoming a high-class performer, (but) when we added it all together we felt it would be kinder to the horse to give him a little bit more experience.”
Slipofthepen’s main target is to run in front of his owners at Royal Ascot next month.
Warren added: “He’ll do some important racecourse gallops and because he’s held in high regard, there’s a possibility that we will not discount looking at the French Guineas.
“It’s early days to be firm on the plan, but here we are two weeks out from that and that’s what we’re looking at, and if we don’t make it there is the Heron Stakes at Sandown a few days later with the objective that all roads lead to Ascot, which would be great.
“We’re hoping the King and the Queen Consort will be able to attend racing that week, so it would be tremendous to give them a few runners.”
