Rogue Supremacy subject to plenty of attention with Ascot looming

Rogue Supremacy is providing owners The Rogues Gallery with plenty of excitement ahead of Royal Ascot – providing their heads are not turned by a big-money move prior to the summer highlight kicking off.

David O’Meara’s youngster impressed when making all in his Wetherby debut, scorching clear of the opposition to give himself the options of the Coventry Stakes, Norfolk Stakes and Windsor Castle at the Royal meeting.

“We really, really like this horse, loads of people are trying to buy this horse and he could even be sold by the time we get to Ascot but I’m trying not to,” said Tony Elliott, founder of The Rogues Gallery.

“The jockey was more or less stood up with him the whole way at Wetherby and we don’t know what we’ve got yet and that’s the whole idea of going to Ascot.

“He’s sharp and we don’t know if he’ll get the six furlongs, so it could be that we’re looking at the five-furlong races over the Coventry.

“But I’ll leave that with David O’Meara, he knows the horse and it’s not really my decision, I leave it to the trainers. He’ll be entered in three of the races and it’s just a case of then picking the right one.”

The son of St Mark’s Basilica has courted plenty of attention since getting his sire off the mark last month, but at the moment the ‘Rogues’ are withstanding the pressure to sell the talented youngster, having already cashed in on the Paddy Twomey-trained Rogue Legend prior to Ascot.

Rogue Legend transferred to the ownership of American John Stewart and his Resolute Racing operation for a fee rumoured to be seven figures, and Elliott admitted there is always plenty to consider when offers hit the table.

He added: “It’s not all about selling because we want some nice ones ourselves and it’s a tricky situation. However, we’re not all multi-millionaires and sometimes you have to use your head rather than your heart ruling your head.

“People keep saying it must be a lovely position to be in, but it’s difficult. We all want a bit of money, but at the same time we want those nice horses as well. Luckily enough we keep putting ourselves in this position and I do think we’ve plenty of cracking horses coming through of real quality.”

Royal Ascot winner Rogue Millennium and crack sprinter Rogue Lightning were two others to excel for The Rogues Gallery before switching hands for £1.65million and £1million respectively at the sales, as the popular syndicate continues to source above-average operators.

And Rogue Supremacy could be joined next week by James Owen’s Rogue Millions, who is poised for the Golden Gates Handicap after readily accounting for some smart opposition at Chepstow recently.

“Rogue Millions will hopefully go to the Golden Gates and he could even be our best horse, he beat two really nice horses comfortably at Chepstow,” continued Elliott.

“We’ve got a lot of nice ones at the moment and everyone is buzzing, it couldn’t be going better for us. I would say we’re overachieving and I guess the person under pressure is me to keep finding them.”