Galileo Gold and Frankie Dettori ready to deliver Lockinge success for trainer Hugo Palmer
Hugo Palmer's Qipco 2000 Guineas winner sparkled in a workout on the Rowley Mile under Dettori last week and it is all systems go for the Al Shaqab-owned colt
HUGO PALMER reckons Galileo Gold has rediscovered his "magic" with Frankie Dettori ahead of next month's Al Shaqab Lockinge Stakes at Newbury.
Palmer's Qipco 2000 Guineas hero also landed the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot last year before ending the season slightly disappointingly.
Galileo Gold - who is owned by Al Shaqab Racing - stepped up his preparations for the Lockinge in a racecourse gallop over a mile at Newmarket on Thursday under Dettori .
Palmer said: "This horse is absolutely there within himself. The nice thing we have to do now is nervously tick him over into the Lockinge. All his really serious work is done.
"We ran him quickly three times at the start of last year and it was then quite a struggle to get him to Goodwood (Sussex Stakes) spot on.
"I will always have a tiny suspicion that he wasn't quite at his peak in the Sussex, but he wasn't beaten that far. I regret now taking him to France (Prix Jacques le Marois) so hot on the heels of that.
"That buzzed him up and he never calmed down for the rest of the year. I think it is fair to say that when Frankie got off him at Ascot (QEII) having two less than pleasurable times on the horse their relationship was a little bit on the rocks.
"That was really the main purpose of Thursday's racecourse gallop, to remind Frankie what an engine this horse has and for them to get back in love again.
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"The look on Frankie's face, the sort of hugging and kissing the horse afterwards - you felt the magic was back between them which is so important.
"The horse seems to be in the right place and it is so important Frankie knows it too and that they believe in each other. The piece of work he did couldn't have gone any better."