Maranoa Charlie on course for Foret challenge

Maranoa Charlie is booked for the Prix de la Foret after his gallant third-placed run in the Sky Bet City of York Stakes at the weekend.

The Wootton Bassett colt is trained in Chantilly by Christopher Head and made his first trip across the Channel to contest the seven-furlong Group One under the French rider Aurelien Lemaitre.

He was a 9-1 chance among a field of 10 and ran a fine race to come home just three-quarters of a length behind the winner on his second start for new owners Bond Thoroughbreds.

“He ran a very good race, I was really happy with the performance of the horse,” said Head.

“We tried a new strategy this time, we were waiting with him a little bit and it was really worth it.

“He showed a real change of speed at the end of the race, he was very resilient and I was very happy with him.

“He’s come out of the race very well and he didn’t even lose that much weight, which is fantastic because now we know he’s capable of taking all the travelling.

“We’re going to go to the Prix de la Foret for his next race, and that may be the end of his season.

“I need to discuss it with his owner, of course, but we’re going to concentrate on a nice programme for next season with lots of travelling because he looks like he can handle it.

“He’s going to be very interesting for all the big mile races next season.”