Frontiersman bids for G3 prize at Newbury

Frontiersman aims to capitalise on a drop down to G3 level in the Geoffrey Freer Stakes over an extended 13 furlongs at Newbury, UK, on Saturday, August 19. 

The Charlie Appleby-trained four-year-old rallied in the closing stages to come home second, beaten three-quarters of a length by Hawkbill, in the 12-furlong G2 Princess Of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket on July 13. 

He was also runner-up over a mile and a half in the G1 Coronation Cup at Epsom Downs on June 2 and readily won a Newmarket handicap over the same distance on May 7. 

Jim Crowley partners the Dubawi colt, who lines up against eight others headed by progressive three-year-old Defoe and recent Newmarket Listed winner To Eternity. 

Charlie Appleby said: “Frontiersman is in great nick and we couldn’t be any happier with him. We missed the G3 Glorious Stakes at Goodwood (Aug 4) because of the very testing ground but hopefully it won’t be too soft at Newbury. 

“I don’t foresee the step up in distance being an inconvenience. He wasn’t stopping in the Princess Of Wales’s Stakes and didn’t lose too much in defeat that day when going down to an in-form Hawkbill.”