Meehan expecting better to come from Rashabar after this weekend

Brian Meehan expects Rashabar to improve for his comeback run in the Watership Down Stud Too Darn Hot Greenham Stakes at Newbury.

A surprise winner of the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot, the Holy Roman Emperor colt went on to prove that victory was no fluke with narrow defeats at Group One level in the Prix Morny at Deauville and the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at ParisLongchamp.

Rashabar makes his return over seven furlongs at Group Three level this weekend, ahead of a likely bid for Guineas glory, either at Newmarket or in France.

Meehan told Sky Sports Racing: “He’s great, he’s had a very good winter and has been training really well. He’s the same sort of character and he’s in really good shape.

“He proved at the back end of the season that he was a potential miler for this year when he was just unlucky in the Lagardere in Paris. I’m looking forward to stepping him up to a mile.

“Obviously we’ve got to get the trial out of the way. He’s a big boy and he’ll need his trial and that’s what the Greenham is for.”

Meehan believes Rashabar could step up even further in distance in due course, adding: “I think he could possibly get further than a mile. He’s out of a Camelot mare and Holy Roman Emperor went to stud as a three-year-old, so we don’t know how far he would have got. The Camelot mare encourages me that he could get further and he is in the French Derby as well as the Guineas.

“He’s qualified for the French premiums, so that makes it even more attractive.”