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Bay City Roller is set for a swift step up in class after maintaining his unbeaten record at Chelmsford on Thursday, with Doncaster’s Betfred Champagne Stakes identified as a likely target.
Having made a successful start to his career at Sandown in late July, the New Bay colt doubled his tally as an odds-on favourite in Essex, albeit having to work harder than many expected to see off Ralph Beckett’s promising newcomer Rock d’Oro.
Bay City Roller’s trainer George Scott was pleased with his colt’s performance, however, and is now eyeing a move up to Group Two level on Town Moor.
He said: “I just felt like he needed a bit more match practice before stepping into Pattern company and he certainly got that.
“He had to do it the hard way, making the running on the all-weather, and Callum (Shepherd) by his own admittance said if he rode the race again, he’d have kicked on. He left the door slightly ajar for what is obviously a very nice prospect and they both got their noses bloodied.
“It was job done really, so onwards and upwards. I’m thinking of the Champagne probably, as that gives us just over two weeks, and that will be very much a crossroads as to which direction he heads in.
“You’ve got the Lagardere, you’ve got the Dewhurst, there’s the Futurity Trophy back at Doncaster or there’s the Goffs Million sales race in Ireland. They’re all on the table, but at this stage we still don’t quite know where he sits in the pecking order.
“He’s come out of Chelmsford good, we’ll go to the Champagne and where he goes after that will all depend on how he runs.”
While the ground was quick on Bay City Roller’s Sandown introduction, Scott believes he could be seen to even better effect on an easier surface.
He added: “I’m absolutely convinced that he wants cut in the ground. I think he kind of won despite the ground at Sandown and if it got soft at Doncaster, I really don’t think it would be an issue for him.
“His dam (Bloomfield) won on soft ground and he’s by New Bay, whose progeny act on soft ground. He has a round action and we’ve worked him on soft ground before and he’s just a different horse.”
