Alyanaabi camp have plenty of options after winning comeback

Alyanaabi could be set for a successful season after serving a reminder of his quality in a winning reappearance at Haydock.

Owen Burrows’ son of Too Darn Hot excelled at two, winning the Tattersalls Stakes and chasing home City Of Troy in the Dewhurst, but struggled to make his mark when set a catalogue of stiff assignments during his Classic campaign.

Tried up at distances as far as 10 furlongs last term, he was brought back to seven furlongs for the Spring Trophy Stakes, showing plenty of speed to claim Listed honours with authority.

“It was great to get him back on track and we had a frustrating time with him last year when he didn’t win, yet we knew he had ability,” said Angus Gold, racing manager for owners Shadwell.

“Interestingly, Jim (Crowley) had been saying all spring every time he had ridden him that he thinks the horse has a lot of speed and maybe we had been running him over too far, certainly at the end of last year anyway.

“We brought him back to seven furlongs to see if that was the right way to go and, as you saw, he bounced out and showed plenty of speed and was able to keep going well.”

Connections are now contemplating sticking to the seven furlong programme, but having proven he stays a mile in the past and also potentially possessing the speed for six furlongs, they will not be short of possibilities throughout the season.

“We will probably stick to seven furlongs with him and there’s some nice races at that distance, but Jim suggested he wouldn’t mind trying a stiff six at some stage either,” continued Gold.

“We didn’t put him in the sprint at the Royal meeting because above everything else, we hadn’t been training him as a sprinter and I think you have got to be aiming to do that if you are going to take on the best ones over that trip.

“Although that’s not to say we couldn’t try a stiff six at Ascot towards the end of the season if he was still in good form, or he could even be a Breeders’ Cup Mile horse as we know he will get the trip and there’s some nice options to have.”