Best Solution returns to action; Thunder Snow put on hold

Godolphin’s Best Solution is set to make his comeback after a long break from racing as per trainer Saeed Bin Suroor. The son of Kodiak was crowned ‘Best Horse’ at the 2019 His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Horseracing Excellence Awards on the merits of a 2018 season that saw him win multiple Group 1 affairs.

“He’s entered this Saturday,” Suroor confirmed. “He had a hard season last year and we took our time bringing him back. He got a nice break and now he’s back and has trained well. He’s in good form.”

The bay 5-year-old is the early favourite for Kempton Park’s September Stakes (G3), the same race the great Enable used as a prep for a second victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1) at Longchamp. Early plans may not be so ambitious for the globetrotting Irish-bred.

“We will see how he runs before making any plans,” Bin Suroor said. “We’ll see how he looks after and we hope he runs well.”

Commencing 2018 with four consecutive Meydan races, including a handicap victory during the Dubai World Cup Carnival and a respectable fifth in the $6 million Longines Dubai Sheema Classic (G1), the 12-furlong specialist then went on to win a quartet of consecutive races, including the Princess of Wales’s Stakes (G2) at Newmarket, a pair of Group 1s in Germany and the prestigious Caulfield Cup (G1) in Australia.

He finished his nine-run season with a valiant eighth in the Melbourne Cup (G1) over 3200m after missing the break by five lengths. Best Solution has won Group stakes for three consecutive seasons, dating back to Newmarket’s Autumn Stakes (G3) in October 2016 as a juvenile.

Suroor also touched on stable star Thunder Snow, who has not been seen since scratching from the Whitney Handicap (G1) in New York and heading back to his Newmarket base. Future aspirations, which have always included the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Santa Anita as a year-end goal, are currently in the balance.

“He had a temperature in New York,” he said. “He’s getting a small break and there’s no plan for him yet.”

Meanwhile, Straight to Victory Syndicate’s multiple Group 3-winning Irish charge Hit the Bid, who has been a regular competitor during the last two Dubai World Cup Carnivals, has come out of his return last week in top order and will head to Group 1 company next out.