Richard Hannon: “Threat’s work has been exceptional and I’m extremely hopeful”

ROYAL ASCOT – TUESDAY

3:05 G2 Coventry Stakes

Threat (Tom Marquand)

He won impressively on debut at Newmarket and pretty much did what we hoped he would as he’d been showing plenty of ability on the gallops. A lot of our horses tend to come on for their first run so the fact he did it first time out shows what a good horse he could be and he was going that well at home we thought we might as well give him a run over five furlongs, but he’s bred for further so the extra furlong here will really suit and I think he has improved a lot since May. It’s always been the plan to come straight here but any Royal Ascot race is hard to win, and it’s no exception here; however his work has been exceptional and he galloped well with Temple Of Heaven last week so goes to Ascot in the best shape I can get him and I am extremely hopeful.

"Do I think he's a Coventry horse is what you're going to ask me…"

Do we even need @_tomstanley_ to ask the questions?

Richard Hannon is quite excited by his Newmarket winner Threat

Results ➡https://t.co/glajGV55GR pic.twitter.com/6c737HUe95

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) May 5, 2019

Kuwait Direction (Pat Dobbs)

I couldn’t believe what he did on debut at Windsor as he’d been showing plenty of ability at home so we fancied him to run a very big race but he completely embarrassed me and never went a single yard so the very next morning I got him straight out and worked him just to check that I wasn’t going mad and thankfully he showed what we all thought he was capable of. He then ran at Doncaster and ran much better, going down by a short head which was much more like it and while it was disappointing to see him get beat it was a step back in the right direction. He’s a big price here and has to improve a lot to figure but he has a lot of ability and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him run a very big race at a decent each way price.

4:20 G1 St James’s Palace Stakes

Fox Champion (Silvestre De Sousa)

Everyone knows how much I adore this horse and this time last year we thought he’d win the Coventry but he picked up a small injury on the day of the race so we had to pull him out but, judged on what he’s done as a three year old, that may have been a blessing in disguise as he’s come back a much stronger, mature colt who is unbeaten this season. I really liked his attitude in the German Guineas last time on his first try over a mile and I think he may get further in time but we’ll stick to this trip for the time being. I’m under no illusions that he has to produce a career best to win this and who knows how much more improvement he’s got but he’s done absolutely nothing wrong so deserves to take his chance and he certainly won’t disgrace himself.

RICHARD HANNON ROYAL ASCOT STABLE TOUR OLDER HORSES

As it's #RoyalAscot next week, we paid a visit to @RHannonRacing to bring YOU the latest news! Here we discuss his older horses!

Fox Champion

️ Watch the full video https://t.co/laWuGX0Ah1 pic.twitter.com/X6cxNtOcoU

— Unibet Racing (@UnibetRacing) June 13, 2019