Shalaa on track for Sprint on Champions Day

Shalaa has recovered from his pelvic injury and is on course to join a glittering cast on Champions Day. Picture: Racingforos.com

Shalaa is on course to return in the QIPCO British Champions Sprint at Ascot on October 15.

Connections of the John Gosden-trained colt, who was one of last season’s outstanding juveniles, have issued an upbeat bulletin and are relishing the prospect of seeing him back in action on Champions Day now he has recovered from the pelvic injury that has kept on the sidelines this term.

“As things stand he’s on course for the big sprint on Champions Day,” Harry Herbert, racing manager for owners Al Shaqab Racing, said: “John is very happy with him at the moment and I know he’s impressing everyone around him, so fingers crossed it stays that way.

“He is the most amazing physical specimen. It’s remarkable how well he looks considering the injury he has had to come back from.”

Shalaa chalked up Group 1 victories in the Prix Morny and the Middle Park Stakes last season. He spent some time recuperating at the National Stud in Newmarket before returning to Gosden.

“He’s progressing nicely and is getting fitter by the day,” Herbert said. “We couldn’t be happier with everything he’s doing, he’s in very capable hands and with a bit of luck and a fair wind, we’ll get to Ascot with him.”

The Champions Sprint is shaping up into one of the races of the year, with Quiet Reflection, winner of the Commonwealth Cup and 32Red Sprint Cup, in line for a possible clash with Mecca’s Angel, the brilliant Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes heroine.

Limato, the Darley July Cup winner, and Twilight Son, the Diamond Jubilee Stakes hero, are also engaged, along with such as The Tin Man and Suedois.