'If there is any deterioration then he won't go [to Royal Ascot]'
Trainer David Oughton will monitor the progress of reigning Global Sprint Challenge champion Cape Of Good Hope for the next fortnight before a decision is made on his Royal Ascot assault.
Oughton will wait until the second week of May before making a final decision on whether Cape Of Good Hope is over the check ligament injury to his near foreleg incurred in the first 2006 Global Sprint Challenge (GSC) race, the Lightning Stakes on February 4.
The injury subsequently forced his withdrawal from the second Australian GSC leg at Moonee Valley and Cape Of Good Hope returned to Hong Kong to rest the nagging injury and enable him to make his third trip to Royal Ascot in June, where he sealed the GSC title last year.
'The plan is definitely to go back to Royal Ascot for the King's Stand and the Golden Jubilee and it's so far, so good as far as the check ligament is concerned,' Oughton said yesterday.
'The horse is back in work, there is still some inflammation in that knee area, but the couple of scans we've had done since he started to work again aren't showing any problem. If there is any deterioration then he won't go, he'll stay here and rest and we'll look at going to Australia again with him in October.'