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Cole preparing Dr Rascal for 2000 Guineas bid
By Racing TV
Last Updated: Wed 16 Sep 2026
Oliver Cole will resist the temptation to pitch Dr Rascal into the Dewhurst at Newmarket next month with the colt instead being put away for the winter before being targeted at the 2000 Guineas.
The Sottsass colt surrendered his unbeaten record in the Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes at the Curragh last Saturday, finishing fifth behind Folsom Blues after a troubled passage up the home straight.
And while Cole believes there were further mitigating circumstances which did not allow his star juvenile to show his true worth, he is prepared to wait until next season’s Classic to prove the point.
Dr Rascal won the Group Two Coral Vintage Stakes for Oliver Cole before his recent fifth at the top level.
“He had to sit and suffer and when he got daylight he ran on OK,” said the Whatcombe trainer. “He is probably better on fast ground as he didn’t have that turn of foot and didn’t look like he was going very well on that ground.
“He was unable to produce the sort of speed he can do so we will just have to put a line through that and that is probably it for the rest of the year.”
Despite the setback Cole remains convinced of the horse’s ability with the form of his Group Two Vintage Stakes win working out with the third, Al Hudaiba, going on to win the Grade One bet365 Summer Stakes at Woodbine next time.
“Our colt is a very, very good horse and with the Charlie Appleby horse winning a Group One next time means it is still very much alive for us, and that he is in the running to be one of the best horses next year,” said Cole.
“We are not going to go for the Dewhurst, but it is all systems go towards the Guineas.”
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