Hala Bek update - Cunningham Racing...

[my miss storm cat]

From Racing Post.....

Sorry. At least he has Jarvis though so he'll be well cared for.

Hala Bek "out for the foreseeable future"

by James Willoughby

HALA BEK, Britain’s highest-ranking contender in betting on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, is "out for the foreseeable future", according to trainer Michael Jarvis.

The twice-raced colt, so unlucky when a close fourth to Sir Percy in the Vodafone Derby, is still in the midst of the throat infection which kept him out of last Sunday's Irish Derby.

“The problem that kept him out of the Irish Derby persists and he is out for the foreseeable future. We will try to get him back for an autumn campaign," Jarvis said on Sunday, "but he is still full of mucus, which is affecting his ability to gallop."

Jarvis cannot make specific plans for Hala Bek at present until he knows when the colt will return to full health. If his schedule is disrupted much further, it will obviously be difficult to prepare him for a race like the Arc, with scant opportunity for the requisite seasoning.

Given Hala Bek's unfulfilled talent, and the fact that he did not race as a juvenile, it would seem very likely that we will see him again next year, at which point speculation may raise as to whether the Ahmed Al Maktoum-owned colt will be turned over to the Godolphin operation. A more immediate impact of Hala Bek's setback is his absence from races such as the King George and the Juddmonte International Stakes.

Few horses of his inexperience have figured so prominently at Epsom, and he would clearly have been a major player.

Hala Bek will thus remain one of the season's greatest enigmas for now. In April, he burst onto the scene with an impressive defeat of black-type performers Dragon Dancer and Snoqualmie Boy before confirming everything that his trainer had said about him with a terrific performance in the Epsom Classic. But for veering badly right inside the final furlong, the son of Halling would likely have lifted the prize.

Hala Bek's illness has hardly curtailed another solid campaign for Jarvis.
Victories for Hinterland and Consular in valuable handicaps at Sandown and Haydock on Saturday brought his total to 31 winners this season, with well over half a million pounds in prize-money on the board.