Ferguson reports Deauville Legend to be in excellent form at home. He said: “Deauville Legend has come out of his last run at Ascot fantastically. He ran a huge race but unfortunately, he couldn’t quite get there. His regular work rider, Katie, is delighted with him and hopefully he can progress from that run. We went into Ascot with plenty of confidence. He’d won his novice over a 1m 2f at Windsor in good fashion and it was always evident that a step up in trip, especially with his pedigree, was always going to bring a better performance out of him. It was a huge run, and we were just a little bit gutted we didn’t get there but he’s lost nothing in defeat, and we’ve evidently got quite a nice horse on our hands.”

On official ratings, Deauville Legend has a bit to find with both Andrew Balding’s Masekala and Zechariah, who put up excellent performances in defeat in the Cazoo Derby and Queen’s Vase respectively, but Ferguson believes that we’re yet to see the best of his colt. Ferguson added: “I think there’s plenty of improvement to come. He’s very inexperienced and he showed a little bit of that inexperience on his third start when he ended up winning. He was very professional at Ascot, and I expect him to take another step forward as well.”

Ferguson has enjoyed plenty of big race success since taking out his license less than three years ago and winning another domestic Group race at his local track would be another feather in the 32-year-old’s cap. He said: “We picked the Bahrain Trophy because it’s an extra furlong. He looked like he stayed every yard at Royal Ascot. It’s very competitive and a huge step up in grade for Deauville Legend but from what I’m seeing at home he has come on again from Royal Ascot. We think we will take our chance after talking to the owner. It’s very exciting and great to have a horse of that level running in the Bahrain Trophy.”

Bahrain’s sponsorship of the race goes back over 30 years with Thursday’s winner earning £113,420 and Ferguson commended their investment in horse racing both domestically and back in Bahrain. “This winter was a huge success for Bahrain with the launch of the Bahrain Turf Series. We were all keeping tabs on the action. I’d love to have a horse good enough to send over there. It’s always nice when new people come into racing, and they’ve come in with full force. They had some lovely winners at Royal Ascot, and we’d like to support anyway we can.”

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