Dunlop gives Robin Of Navan all-clear after Saint-Cloud flop

Harry Dunlop has delivered an upbeat bulletin on stable star Robin Of Navan after the four-year-old was virtually pulled up when beaten 51 lengths in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud on Sunday.

The Lambourn trainer said: “He was very sore on pulling up in France and his jockey Cristian Demuro thought he took a wrong step on the bend turning in but we have got the horse home and, fortunately, there seems nothing drastically amiss.

“We had him checked over by the vets and he has pulled some muscles which may account for him being so sore. He has had some treatment with anti-inflammatories just to calm things down, so hopefully after a bit of a rest he should be fine.”

Dunlop said he was worried something more serious might have been the problem and added: “Losing a horse like him who has won almost £400,000 in prize-money for a stable like ours would have been a huge blow so it’s a relief there is nothing much wrong with him.”

Dunlop is already looking ahead with his stable star and an autumn campaign in France. He said: “As long as he recovers and is good order there is every chance he will go for the Group 3 Prix Gontaut-Biron at Deauville on August 15 over a mile and a quarter and hopefully Cristian, who gets on so well with him, will be back on board.”

When asked why he chooses to campaign Robin Of Navan almost exclusively in France, Dunlop replied: “It’s easy really as he is a French-bred and as such he gets a premium of 64 per cent every time he picks up prize-money so it makes perfect sense from a financial point of view.”