Alan King 'sorry for everyone' after Trueshan misses Lonsdale Cup

York's flagship long-distance race suffered another blow when Trueshan was pulled out less than half an hour beforehand on Friday.

Former champion stayer Stradivarius was scratched from the Weatherbys Hamilton Lonsdale Cup early in the morning due to a bruised foot.

And last year's Goodwood Cup winner Trueshan followed him out as Alan King felt the ground was too quick for him, with next month's Doncaster Cup and the Prix du Cadran on Arc weekend next possible destinations.

The trainer made his decision after walking the course before racing and watching the opening race on the card, which saw 9-4 shot Quickthorn make all for a dominant victory to secure a third straight Group win.

Alan King: decided the ground was too quick for soft-ground specialist TrueshanCredit: Edward Whitaker

King said: "I spoke to a good few jockeys and they were all adamant it is drying all the time. It's too quick for me. We want to run him but you've got to look at the big picture.

"If we make the wrong call today and he comes back jarred we might miss the Cadran and Ascot. I'm sorry for everyone. I couldn't believe they didn't get any rain last night, if they'd got 3mm or 4mm we'd have been absolutely fine.

"It made no difference whether Stradivarius was in or out. I had to do what was right on the ground. We've avoided it all his life. We got away with Goodwood just, this is considerably quicker than Goodwood in our opinion. There is possibly the Doncaster Cup, if not we'll wait for the Cadran."

Trueshan is best with give in the ground and revelled in soft conditions when landing both his Group 1 successes.

He was pulled out of two engagements at Royal Ascot this summer due to the quick surface and instead won the Northumberland Plate at Newcastle, putting up a remarkable effort to defy top weight of 10st 8lb, conceding upwards of 19lb to the entire field.

He finished third, a place behind Stradivarius, in the Goodwood Cup last time out.

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