Burke retains full faith in Convergent

Convergent could bid to get his season back on track at Newmarket next month following a disappointing run in the Coronation Cup at Epsom.

Having seen his charge make the perfect start to his season in the John Porter at Newbury on his seasonal debut, trainer Karl Burke was hopeful he could prove his worth at Group One level on Derby day, but like hot favourite Calandagan the four-year-old struggled in the rain-softened ground.

Convergent was beaten 66 lengths at Epsom, but appears to be none the worse for the experience and Burke is confident he will bounce back on better ground, with Newmarket’s Princess of Wales’s Stakes on July 9 being considered as a possible stepping-stone to the King George at Ascot two and a half weeks later.

“In hindsight I’m disappointed we ran him at Epsom, obviously. I wish we’d waited for the Hardwicke at Royal Ascot and then gone for the King George,” said Burke.

“He’s entered in the King George and as far as I’m concerned we’ll aim at that, maybe with a run in the Group Two at the July meeting at Newmarket in between. There’s still nearly three weeks between the two races, so we can do that if we want.”

Another Spigot Lodge star looking to put a below-par effort behind him is Autumn Stakes winner Hankelow, who ran a fantastic race from the front to finish third in the French 2000 Guineas last month, but was subsequently well beaten in the French Derby.

Burke added: “It was a disappointing run really. The ground was very quick at Chantilly and he definitely came back a bit jarred up and he didn’t really seem to stay either, but maybe that was because he was backing off because of the ground.

“It’s a bit of a head scratcher but I’m sure he’s a high-class horse, he proved that in the French Guineas and with a bit of cut in the ground hopefully he’ll bounce back.

“Where we go, I’m not sure. We’ll just mind him a little bit because he’s a horse who could stay in training as a four-year-old.

“If we don’t hit the ground right during the summer, we might just wait for an autumn campaign with him.”

Plans are undecided for his globetrotting stable stalwart Royal Champion.

A runaway winner of the lucrative Neom Turf Cup in Saudi Arabia in February, the eight-year-old was last seen finishing fourth in the FWD QEII Cup at Sha Tin, beaten less than three lengths by Hong Kong superstar Romantic Warrior.

“I need to make a plan for him. We’ve entered him in a race abroad this week, but I’m not sure where we’ll go to be honest,” the trainer said.

“He’s really well in himself and he’ll definitely go to York (York Stakes), but that’s not until the end of July so I’d like to have a run before that, but if we can’t find the right race we’ll go straight there.

“He ran a great race in Hong Kong and we were stuck on the rail, which wasn’t the best place to be. I’m not saying for a minute he’d have won, but I think he could have been a length closer and finished third.

“He’s won £1.5million already this year, so he doesn’t owe us anything.”