Charlie Appleby’s Hawkbill taking a break before possibly heading on his travels later this season

HAWKBILL could be on his travels later this year after trainer Charlie Appleby skipped the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes with him.

The ground would have been perfect for the Group 1 winner, but Appleby instead decided to give him a break after a busy few months.

Hawkbill was last seen winning the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket.

Appleby said: “The ground had come right for Hawkbill in the King George, but he had two close runs together in France and in the Princess of Wales’s.

“It looked tough enough on paper and I thought if I place him well enough in the second half of the season hopefully he will have a nice pot in him still.

“I didn’t want to go to the well too often. I’ve said after each run I am trying to give the horse a bit of a break so I am enforcing a bit of a break on him now.

“Looking further ahead there is potentially the Canadian International or the Grosser Pries Von Bayern, which he finished third in last year. We will just try and get another Group 1 behind him.”

Frontiersman could appear at Goodwood on Friday after Appleby also decided against running him in the King George.

“The ground swayed me. The slower conditions wouldn’t really have suited him. His better performances have been on a quicker surface,” the trainer added.

“He ran the once on slow ground at Newbury and we felt he wasn’t as happy. We will probably take a look at the Glorious Stakes at Goodwood.”