Taqleed may be a short price to win the William Hill Lincoln at Doncaster tomorrow but those closest to him have their reservations.
John Gosden's four-year-old has only had four runs, finishing unplaced as a two-year-old before winning his first two starts at three and running well in the Cambridgeshire. However, having already won over 10 furlongs, owner Hamdan Al Maktoum's racing manager Angus Gold is unsure whether he will have the necessary pace to win a race like the Lincoln.
"He ran well in the Cambridgeshire so I don't know if he's unexposed or not. He's a horse who improved throughout the whole of last year and if he can improve again this year he'll be a pretty nice horse, but he might be a better mile-and-a-quarter horse," said Gold.
"There are various people telling me he's a soft ground horse but I don't know if that's true as I don't think he's run enough to tell that yet. He might be better with a bit of ease but I think he's a decent horse, whether he'll have enough speed for a race like the Lincoln I'm not so sure.
"He ran a very disappointing race as a two-year-old and had a funny attitude. We were about to sell him but I just thought as he was the first foal of a home-bred mare (Thakafaat) we should give him a chance. We gelded him and he just improved and improved so I'm hoping he's improved again but we won't know until he runs."
The ground looks like being perfect for the first major meeting of the season, with clerk of the course Jon Pullin calling it good all over. Water was applied to the track earlier in he week, however, to assist with grass growth.
"I've walked it and it retains plenty of moisture. We had one light shower but it's supposed to be dry for the rest of the day with temperatures possibly reaching 19C. It will be slightly cooler tomorrow with a risk of a light shower but nothing significant. It's proper good ground, it's certainly not quick ground," said Pullin on Friday.
While those conditions should suit just about everybody, Mark Johnston would prefer quicker terrain for his runner Tartan Gigha, saying: "I'm quite happy with the draw, but my biggest worry would be the ground. Perhaps naively I had been assuming that with the weather we've had, the ground would be good.
"I now hear that they are watering the track. It never occurred to me in a million years they would be doing that. The horse is in very good form and I've been pleased with his run in France and then at Wolverhampton. He's running right up to his mark at the moment and I was very hopeful for him, but the ground has to be a concern now."
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