Brae Sokolski leads Kings Will Dream back to scale after the 2019 Turnbull Stakes (Image: Racing Photos/Brett Holburt)
In the aftermath of Yes Yes Yes winning the $14 million Everest (1200m) at Randwick, owner Brae Sokolski turned his attention to having first Group 1 runner at Royal Ascot.
The Diamond Jubilee Stakes (1207m) was identified as the race for the Chris Waller-trained Yes Yes Yes, the race increased to £1 million (A$1.9m) prizemoney to become the richest race of the week alongside the Queen Anne Stakes (1609m).
2020 arrived and, like everything else, those plans went awry. Yes Yes Yes sustained a minor tendon injury ahead of the Group 1 Lightning Stakes (1000m) at Flemington and days later in early February was retired to stud.
"It would have been amazing to be there with him (Yes Yes Yes) but now another opportunity has arisen with Plumatic," Sokolski said, referring to the French six-year-old entire in the Queen Anne – now carrying £250,000 (A$450,000) in prizemoney after the COVID-19 outbreak.
Plumatic was owned by Gerald and Alain Wertheimer, the brothers owning and controlling the House of Chanel perfume company before changing hands at the end of last year. The son of Dubawi now races in the colours of Gerry Ryan and is owned by prominent Australian owners such as Ozzie Kheir, John O'Neill and Sokolski.
"Ozzie Kheir was instrumental in sourcing the horse, acquiring it and bringing us all together," Sokolski said. "It's somewhat bittersweet because I certainly would have flown there with Ozzie to watch him in action."
Plumatic won four of 12 starts for Andre Fabre – the 30-time French premiership-winning trainer preparing him to Group 2 success in the Prix du Muguet (1600m) at Saint-Cloud last May.
WATCH: Plumatic win the Prix du Muguet (blue body & cap, white sleeves)
The horse remains in France after the ownership change, entrusted to Francis Graffard. The bilingual Chantilly-based trainer continues to develop links with Australians after overseeing the initial racing campaign of Hush Writer for Gai Waterhouse.
Graffard won his first race at Royal Ascot last year when Watch Me claimed the Group 1 Coronation Stakes (1603m) for three-year-old fillies as a $21 chance.
Plumatic is a $26 chance with BetEasy to claim the Queen Anne, the horse will be saddled up on raceday by Graffard's fellow Godolphin Flying Start graduate Kate Grimwade as the former Melbourne-based assistant trainer to James Cummings aids Graffard who is unable to leave France.
"It will be fascinating to see how he goes, he's been thrown in at the deep end but the camp is pretty confident that he will perform well," Sokolski said.
Plumatic was runner-up in the Group 3 Prix Bertrand du Breuil (1600m) at Chantilly on May 18 when resuming on debut for Graffard. He settled midfield and briefly quickened into the contest but appeared to peak on his effort, finishing 3.5 lengths behind Pretreville who secured his first Group win and now boasts six wins from eight starts.
"He just ran out of condition in that last furlong but it was a terrific first up run. If he can come on from that – I don't have a good handle on the overseas form as I do domestic so I need to take the guidance from the experts – but I think the horse is well and truly in the race.
"The stakes are very high with him because he's still an entire, he's impeccably bred so it's more than just the Group 1 one up for grabs.
"If he acquits himself well in the Queen Anne I would think the Cox Plate would be firmly on his radar, especially given the possibility of a lack of foreign raiders this year for the Melbourne spring carnival."
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