Goldie thrilled by American Affair’s return to form
By Racing TV
Last Updated: Tue 26 May 2026
American Affair has his sights retrained on a King Charles III title defence before a globetrotting sprint programme following his return to form after injury at Haydock last weekend.
Jim Goldie’s stable star was ruled out for the season after sustaining a bone injury in a fetlock joint following his Group One win at Royal Ascot last year.
But after bouncing back to close to his best when chasing home Night Raider in the Group Two Temple Stakes, Goldie has mapped out a top-class sprint programme both here and overseas.
“We were delighted (with the run at Haydock),” said Goldie. “He was off with an injury so you are never sure they will come back to form but he is not far from where he was, he seems fine and so it is good news.”
The six-year-old provided Goldie with his first Group One win when grabbing the speed crown at the Royal meeting last year, beating Frost At Dawn by a neck under Paul Mulrennan.
But the bone issue which surfaced after he went lame following his annual vaccination meant ambitious plans for a global campaign had to be shelved.
If all goes well at Royal Ascot Goldie is ready to dust off that same plan incorporating York, Paris and possibly a trip to take in America at the end of the season.
“I’m confident he is back to roughly where he was which is probably about 2lb-3lb behind his best,” said the Lanarkshire handler.
“Of course there are plenty of good in-form horses around about but we are reasonably confident we will be in the money.
“We will probably make a plan thereafter which is probably the Nunthorpe.
“We are not looking to stretch him out to six furlongs – it is fairly obvious he is a very talented five furlong horse – so the Abbaye obviously is now in the mix and whether we look at America, we’ll see.”
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