In Abernant, Shouldvebeenaring supposed to shine

Ahead of his attempt to deal another crushing blow to Newmarket in the Connaught Access Flooring Abernant Stakes, Shouldvebeenaring is in "the form of his life."

The four-year-old colt owned by Richard Hannon has been a real money maker for Middleham Park Racing. In the King Charles II Stakes held last spring, he won Listed honours on the Rowley Mile.

The most reliable performer of the season, the Havana Grey son concluded his career in Group One company, winning the Haydock Sprint Cup by a neck, and placing in the Prix de la Foret.

After dominating the all-weather at Wolverhampton last month, contacts are now projecting a better showing over his ideal conditions, which they believe will pave the way for more top-table appearances later in the campaign.

“Six furlongs on decent ground in group company is probably him playing at home,” said Middleham Park’s Tim Palin. He’s won on the Rowley Mile before and Richard reports him to be in the form of his life and this has been the target ever since the Lady Wulfruna. We deliberately got an early call into him so we could get him fit and fresh for Thursday’s mission and hopefully, he will run another big race. We rolled a few big dice with him last year and he never quite got his head in front at Group One level. But on a couple of occasions, he threatened to be a Group One winner and hopefully, he can be at some point in the future. He has a habit of going really well in competitive big-field races and it does look really competitive. Sean Levey gets on well with him and Richard thinks he has improved since last season, so we go there very hopeful.”