O’Brien’s Royal Ascot Squad Shaping Up

[Wandering Eyes]

Trainer Aidan O’Brien’s Royal Ascot team is shaping up nicely, as he attempts to win the top trainer award for the fourth consecutive year and ninth time overall during the five-day festival. Last out G1 Al Shaqab Lockinge S. heroine Rhododendron (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and the 2017 GI Belmont Derby Invitational S. victor Deauville (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) will both see action on the first day of the Royal Meeting on Tuesday, June 19. GSW and G1 Irish 2000 Guineas third Gustav Klimt (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) will also resurface in Tuesday’s G1 St James’s Palace S. over a mile, and he could be joined by MG1SW U S Navy Flag (War Front), who went one better than his stablemate in the Irish 2000. The G1 King’s Stand S., the third Group 1 feature on the first day of the festival, could feature as many as three Ballydoyle representatives, including GSW & MG1SP Washington DC (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), listed runner-up Battle of Jericho (War Front), and G3 Albany S. heroine Different League (Fr) (Dabirsim {Fr}), who was placed twice at the Group 1 level as a juvenile.

“Rhododendron will go for the mile race [G1 Queen Anne S.] along with Deauville,” said O’Brien speaking from The Curragh on Friday. “Gustav Klimt will go for the St James’s Palace [S. that same day], and US Navy Flag may go for that race as well. Washington DC and Battle Of Jericho will probably go for the King’s Stand, and Different League may go back to five [furlongs] for that race as well.”

Australian Group 1 winner Merchant Navy (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), a winner of the G2 Greenlands S. on May 26, could also make his presence felt at Royal Ascot in the June 23 G1 Diamond Jubilee S., as could G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup scorer Lancaster Bomber (War Front), primed for the June 20 G1 Prince of Wales’s S. Also on June 20, O’Brien is considering the G2 Queen’s Vase S. for listed winners Giuseppe Garibaldi (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Southern France (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

Said O’Brien, “Merchant Navy will go for the Diamond Jubilee. Lancaster Bomber will probably go for the mile-and-a-quarter [Prince of Wales’s], and [MGSP] Murillo (Scat Daddy) has the choice of the [June 20 G3] Jersey [S.] or the [G1] Commonwealth [Cup on June 22]. Giuseppe Garibaldi won well at Leopardstown and he might go for the Queen’s Vase. Southern France is in that race as well. Idaho (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) will go for the [G2] Hardwicke [S. on June 23].”

View the full article