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| |  Friday, 14 June, 2002, 16:32 GMT 17:32 UK Stars and stripes come to Ascot Caller One (left) wins the Dubai Golden Shaheen
Royal Ascot is famous across the globe yet attracts few runners from further afield than Ireland and France. In particular, there has not been a runner from the United States for 66 years but that is about to change. This year, top sprinter Caller One will become the first American-trained horse to run at the Royal meeting since US Triple Crown winner Omaha finished second in the 1936 Ascot Gold Cup. The horse, who is trained by Jim Chapman in California, arrived in England on 23 May and is being kept in the Newmarket stables of Geoff Wragg.
Caller One's tilt at Ascot glory will come in the Golden Jubilee Stakes on the extra fifth day of the 2002 Royal meeting. The horse's participation comes after behind-the-scenes work by Ascot clerk of the course Nick Cheyne and chief executive Douglas Erskine-Crum, who have made it a policy to try to attract the world's best to Royal Ascot. And in Caller One, they have landed a coup because the five-year-old comes from the top drawer of sprinters. He has won over �2m in prize money, coming third in last year's Breeders' Cup Sprint and winning the Grade One Dubai Golden Shaheen for the second year in a row in March. However, he was very disappointing in his latest race when he trailed in last of 12 in the Singapore Airlines Krisflyer Sprint last month. That run was Caller One's first on turf but his connections believe the surface - he is used to running on dirt - was not to blame for his poor display. "I don't think it was the turf that was the problem for him in Singapore," said Jim Chapman snr, the father of the trainer. "We've worked him plenty of times on the grass and he's been all right."
Chapman snr is also unworried about the effects of the journey. "He takes all the travel in his stride," he says of the horse, who has run in Dubai, Singapore and the US. Of more concern is an abscess in Caller One's near fore foot, which developed after the Singapore run and was aggravated last weekend. "It seems like it's coming on all right and hopefully he'll be fine," said Chapman snr. Caller One may be able to shake off his foot injury and he may cope with the ground - which, worryingly for the horse, looks as if it will be on the soft side - but there is still the opposition to contend with. In particular, last year's champion juvenile and Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Johannesburg. Aidan O'Brien's colt was disappointing in his last run in the Kentucky Derby but is likely to benefit from the drop back in distance which may see him rediscover his awesome 2001 form. Yet Chapman snr remains bullish about Caller One's chances in the six-furlong sprint that this year enjoys a new name and a new Group One status in honour of the Queen's Golden Jubilee. "We're in good shape," he says. "I can't think of anybody we've ever been afraid of at that distance." | |
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