Roger Varian will have to wait until next summer to see his star stayer Rahiebb following a setback. The Frankel colt looked smart last season having won comfortably on debut at Newcastle. His second to Merchant at York subsequently read well, before his third in the Queen’s Vase.
His season ended with a neck second to Scandinavia in the St Leger, confirming the initial promise. He made a winning seasonal debut when easily landing the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup. While that initially suggested he could develop into a leading stayer, he failed to fire in the Ascot Gold Cup.
There was more promise at Goodwood, finishing third to Scandinavia. He was only marginally behind Trawlerman there, but his campaign has abruptly ended through a setback.
Roger Varian told the Press Association, via At The Races: “He’s had a setback I’m afraid and unfortunately he won’t run again this year. But hopefully he will be back next summer
“He’s still a young horse in his division and still relatively lightly-raced. I still think there will be some big days ahead with him. Fingers crossed he comes back in as good a shape as he can be. It’s a bit of a blow for the rest of this year. But hopefully we have him to look forward to for next year.”
‘I didn’t learn as much as I wanted’ – Roger Varian
It was a double blow for Varian, who was left with more questions than answers in the Goodwood Cup. The race was marred early on as Amiloc unshipped Hector Crouch leaving the stalls. The riderless Amiloc followed the course’s path, and drifted into the way of Trawlerman. As a result, Trawlerman lost momentum and Scandinavia pulled away.
A clash between the big two failed to ensue, and Rahiebb also failed to have a clear run through. Varian added: “I didn’t learn as much as I wanted to learn as it was a messy race. We kind of got stuck behind a couple as the race was developing and had to muscle our way out.
“The big two got first run on us. I’m not for a second saying we would have finished any better than we did. But it was kind of a frustrating watch with the loose horse and other things.
“It didn’t feel satisfactory after the race even though I think he ran quite a nice race to finish third.”
Rahiebb is bred to improve with racing, and if overcoming his setback we can expect to see him continue his improvement. He’s from the family of Dubai Future, who won the Henry II Stakes as a 10-year-old in May