Luther handed more international targets

Luther is poised to pick up plenty more air miles following his valiant effort in the Belmont Derby at Saratoga.

The Charlie Fellowes- trained three-year-old missed the break but rallied gamely in the hands of Kieran Shoemark to finish third, a length and a quarter adrift of winner Test Score.

Fellowes has plenty of options stateside for the son of Frankel before more globetrotting awaits with a trip to Sydney for the Golden Eagle at Rosehill.

He told Racing TV’s Luck On Sunday: “He ran really well. It didn’t quite go to plan, he was very slow out of the gates and we sat much further back than we intended to sit.

“He showed a really, really wicked turn of foot coming around the bend and then I just felt his run petered out through the last three-quarters of a furlong. My gut feeling is that he probably just doesn’t stay that nine furlongs and that really he’s a miler.

“There’s the Saratoga Derby back over course and distance in a month’s time but that’s over nine furlongs and I think that trip stretches him.

“There’s the Hall of Fame which is the day before which is the Grade Two which is worth $400,000 over a mile which is interesting.

“Then there’s the a race down at Colonial Downs about a week later called the Secretariat. It used to be a Grade One and now’s a Grade Two but it’s worth $500,000 so that’s a possibility.

“He’ll have one more run in America and then come back here. He loves quick ground so we’ll give him a freshen up and then end up somewhere like a Golden Eagle (in Australia).”

Fellowes has decided to swerve the Falmouth Stakes this week with Shes Perfect after a tough summer in France.

She was narrowly beaten by Zarigana in the Prix de la Grotte and then thought she had gained revenge in the French 1,000 Guineas only to lose the race in the stewards’ room.

She then stepped up in trip for the Prix de Diane but was a well beaten ninth after failing to see out the trip.

But the Newmarket handler has plenty of options for the daughter of Sioux Nation.

He said: “She’ll have a little freshen up, just to give her a bit of time before her next race and then a big autumn. I think we’ll probably go to the Valiant (at Ascot) or the Oak Tree at Goodwood, drop back to a mile or seven furlongs.

“And then you’ve got things like the Matron, the Sun Chariot or the race I really like for her is ironically the Foret which seemed like a really good plan until I heard Francis Graffard say they’re aiming Zarigana at it!”