Trainer Henry Cecil is hoping today's Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot is run at a hectic pace so Dr Fong can capitalise on stamina reserves that suggest he can quite comfortably get beyond a mile in distance.
Reporting the colt to be 'fresh' and 'very well' for the long-awaited Group One mile clash, Cecil conceded the mile is not Dr Fong's optimum trip. The chestnut wore down David Loder's Desert Prince to lift the St James' Palace Stakes by a neck at Royal Ascot back in June, but gave the impression he would prove effective over slightly longer trips.
Desert Prince has already recorded wins in the Irish 2,000 Guineas and the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp - hence the need for both colts to be at their best if they are to clinch the title of Europe's champion miler.
Earlier in the season, Dr Fong, who is owned by Prince Ahmed Salman's Thoroughbred Corporation, had been beaten over a mile and a quarter in the Dante Stakes at York, and appeared to struggle for stamina when landing the Group Two Prix Eugene Adam at Maisons-Laffitte over that trip on his latest start the following month.
But Cecil said: 'This is fast ground, and it will be whoever likes the ground the most. I am not going to predict the outcome, I just hope he runs very well. His best trip is probably a mile and one [furlong], but we don't have and mile and ones, do we? It's the only race he can go for and that's that.' The Thoroughbred Corporation, meanwhile, has become a major shareholder in leading American performer Skip Away. The news was confirmed by Richard Trontz whose Hopewell Stud at Midway, Kentucky, will be Skip Away's base when he commences his stallion career next year.
Skip Away has won his nine last races, including the Grade One Woodward Stakes last Saturday, in which Philip Mitchell's Running Stag finished third. Victory in the Belmont Park feature put Skip Away within US$493,455 ($3.8 million) of the great Cigar's US$9,999,815 North American earnings record.