Nayef fits the bill on a day of champions

Say what you like about Marcus Tregoning but you cannot fault his work rate or strike rate over the last few weeks. On day one of the Festival of British Racing at Ascot two weeks ago, he saddled the exciting Snow Ridge which went from last to first in the Royal Lodge Stakes.

Twenty four hours later, he landed another major prize when High Accolade made every yard in the Cumberland Lodge Stakes and, for good measure, his wife Arabella went into labour on the way back home to Lambourn.

Baby Peter was born in Swindon Hospital a few hours later and was just seven days old when his old man went off to France to saddle Mubtaker, which finished second behind star French colt Dalakhani in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

All in all, it has been a momentous fortnight for one of Europe's most upwardly mobile trainers.

Another major assignment beckons when Tregoning launches Nayef and Snow Ridge at the two biggest prizes on Champions Day at Newmarket this Saturday. "It's a case of the old and the new for us this weekend," said Tregoning. "Nayef is retiring to stud after Saturday's Emirates Airline Champion Stakes, whereas Snow Ridge is still at the beginning of his career and will be trying to end his two-year-old campaign by winning the Dewhurst Stakes.

"Both horses are very well and go there with a fighting chance."

Tregoning's emergence as a man to be feared at the highest level has come as a breath of fresh air to those who prefer their trainers witty and relaxed as opposed to cold and aloof.

That said, some of those closest to the former assistant to the legendary trainer Dick Hern had doubts about whether he was cut from the right cloth to replace him.

A sluggish start when he took over the reins in 1997 prompted one close observer of the yard to suggest that it was "20-1 against him making it". But Tregoning had not spent 14 years with Hern walking round with his eyes and ears shut. Tregoning has a long way to go to match his old boss, who sadly died last year after a career in which he won 17 Classics, but the skill with which he has managed Nayef 's career carries echoes of Hern at his finest.

Unbeaten at two, Nayef went into his three-year-old season as Derby favourite only to flop on his reappearance.

Many a trainer would have pressed on for short-term gain. Tregoning simply gave the massive colt a long break to strengthen up and has seen his patience rewarded as Nayef has powered to four Group 1 successes and over £2million in prize money.

"He'll leave a massive gap when he walks out of the yard but he's given us some wonderful days," he said. "His crowning moment came when he ran away with the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot this year."

Snow Ridge is the latest Tregoning juvenile to be talked of as a possible Derby candidate and has been giving all the right signals ahead of his clash with Three Valleys and Lucky Story in Saturday's Dewhurst.

"This is another step up for Snow Ridge, probably the best two-year-old I've trained, and a win in the Dewhurst would be highly significant as regards his long-term future," said Tregoning, who is sixth in the trainers' table with well over £1m in prize money and a record verging on one winner to every four runners.

" He's inexperienced but a tremendous prospect and it's always exciting when a horse who is bred to stay well shows the speed he does."

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