Henry Candy hoping to see spark return for Limato
Tuesday 14 April 2015 10:07, UK
Henry Candy has his fingers crossed a return to the racecourse will re-ignite Limato's spark.
While the Wantage trainer reports the unbeaten colt to be in good form, he is not yet burning up the gallops in the same manner he did as a two-year-old when he won all of his four starts culminating in the totepool Two-Year-Old Trophy at Redcar.
Despite Candy's reservations at this stage, Limato remains on course to make his seasonal debut in the Listed Pavilion Stakes at Ascot on April 29.
"I think he's all right. He's not actually sparkled in his work yet. I've spent most of my life trying to get him relaxed as he's quite a buzzy horse and whether I've overdone the relaxing bit, I don't know," Candy told At The Races.
"He looks well, he's very fresh and bouncy but I won't know how well he is until he gets on the racecourse.
"We had some terrible times with him last year. We missed the Gimcrack and the sales race at Doncaster - two really big prizes. OK, he got lucky at Redcar in the end, but he's not a robust horse, so we had to just feel our way.
"I do feel he is very well at the moment. He had a routine scope last week and that was absolutely fine. I honestly don't think we'll know where we are until we go to Ascot in a fortnight's time.
"He's quite a slight little horse, but he showed last year he'd got the engine, so there is no reason he shouldn't do the same this year.
"I would have liked to see him grow another inch or two and really fill out, but that's not going to happen.
"He's working well but he's not working in a dazzling fashion like he did as a two-year-old.
"Obviously, he'll have to have an entry in the new race at Royal Ascot, but I take it race by race and it will be interesting to see how he gets on back on the racecourse. It might spark him up and he might just be as good as ever.
"He's not giving me 100% confidence at the moment. He's doing nothing wrong, he's working OK, but I would just like to see a bit more brilliance. He was a pretty amazing worker last year."
