By Bloodhorse.com
ASCOT, Great Britain (June 7, 2015) — William Buick is to ride U.S. Horse of the Year California Chrome in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes (Eng-I) June 17 at Royal Ascot, Racing Post reports.
While Frankie Dettori rode the Lucky Pulpit in a racecourse gallop last week at Ascot, he will have the mount on trainer John Gosden’s English/French group winner Western Hymn in the Prince of Wales’s.
“They’ve asked me to find out if (Buick) can ride him and as far as I know he can, and all being well William rides,” said trainer Rae Guest, who is overseeing the California-bred at his yard in Newmarket.
“They (California Chrome’s connections) wanted Frankie, but as he can’t ride they wanted another top European jockey.
Buick is a retained jockey for Godolphin and was aboard Prince Bishopwhen he won the March 28 Dubai World Cup (UAE-I), a race in which California Chrome was the runner-up before shipping to England
“They’re very happy with him and he’ll be available, which is the main thing,” Guest said.
California Chrome was at Ascot for the first time June 4 to train for right-handed racing ahead of the Royal meeting, set to start June 16.
Alan Sherman, son of California Chrome’s trainer Art Sherman, was at the racecourse to oversee the colt and was pleased with how the colt handled his first outing on the Ascot turf.
“I thought it went great,” Sherman said. “He seemed to handle the right-hand bend and Frankie said he handled the turf course good, so I was happy with it.
“We wanted to get him a little more focused, get his mind in the game. He was getting a little too relaxed at Newmarket, so it was good to get a little bit of a race scenario back in to his mind and to get his head back in the game.”