John Best is confident Stone Of Folca can follow in the hoofprints of former stable star Kingsgate Native by landing the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes at York.
The trainer has described Stone Of Folca as the fastest horse he has ever trained and there was little wrong with his neck second to Zebedee in last week's Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood.
Kingsgate Native filled the runner-up spot in the same Goodwood contest before going on to beat his elders on the Knavesmire and Best feels his latest star juvenile has major claims in the Group One event on August 20.
"He came out of Goodwood spot-on and we've had no problems at all," said Best.
"We were worried about how he'd handle the preliminaries as he got a bit hot at Ascot, but I was delighted with him in that respect as he was very well behaved and went down to post early very nicely.
"Nothing went right for him in the race itself. They didn't go quick enough and he possibly didn't get the smoothest run in the closing stages. Zebedee got the perfect run and I thought it was an unbelievable ride by Richard Hughes to get him there.
"Jimmy (Quinn) did manage to anchor our horse and I didn't think there was another horse travelling quite like him, even though Zebedee was very relaxed. I just think if they'd gone quicker we would have won it and if we'd got a smoother run, we possibly would have won as well."
He went on: "The thing about the Nunthorpe is they will go 100 miles per hour and that will suit us perfectly. This horse is just so fast and the ideal scenario would be for Equiano to run and hopefully we're drawn near him.
"Then hopefully we can track him, just like Zebedee tracked us at Goodwood. Looking at the race, I think Equiano and Kingsgate Native are the two for me - and mine of course!
"I think the track at York will suit us really well and I see you can get 12-1, which is the same price Kingsgate was when he won it for us."
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