Champions Day-bound Kodi Bear out to confirm promise at Goodwood

Trainer Clive Cox hopes his stable star Kodi Bear will use the Celebration Mile at Goodwood this Saturday as a stepping stone to QIPCO British Champions Day glory.

The three-year-old, who was a runaway victor of the Group 3 Sovereign Stakes at Salisbury earlier this month, will run on the Sussex Downs this weekend aiming to justify odds-on favouritism.

Cox believes Kodi Bear is fully prepared for his outing this weekend and that there is more to come with the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot firmly on connections’ mind.

“I’m delighted where we are with him,” he said. “He’s in good form and precisely where we want him to be ahead of Goodwood.

“It was well documented that he had a setback earlier in the season, but he’s starting to show that he is on an upwards curve now.

“Based on his performance at Salisbury in the Sovereign (Stakes), we think he could be a Group 1 miler in the making. People forget he finished second in the Dewhurst last year.

“I said after his race at Salisbury that the QEII on Champions Day was his main target and, if he can win well this weekend, we have every intention to head to Ascot.”

Should Kodi Bear win comfortably at Goodwood this weekend, an intriguing battle against QIPCO British Champions Series star Solow is likely to take place on Champions Day.

However, it is a task Cox believes his three-year-old is up to.

“I think he’d give him a good race. It would be an interesting step, but one in the right direction.”

To book your place at QIPCO British Champions Day 2015, head to the ticketing website.