Tony Keenan is back with his take on Sunday’s action from Ireland.
It is Royal Ascot Trials Day at Naas this afternoon and the track has a decent overall record of producing winners at that meeting; of the last 500 or so Royal Ascot winners, 14 had their penultimate start at Naas, which is second among Irish courses behind the Curragh.
Nine of those winners were two-year-olds, so the juvenile races seem most likely to produce a subsequent Ascot winner, with Sparkling Sea – who runs in the Coolmore Stud Irish EBF Fillies Spring Stakes at 2:50 – perhaps the one that fits that billing on what we have seen so far.
She ran out an impressive winner of a course-and-distance maiden three weeks ago that is often a key trial for this race, beating the well-backed Fairy Godmother by a comfortable two-and-a-half lengths, though those looking ahead to the royal meeting might be put off by her trainer’s record with runners in Britain, Mustajeer in the 2019 Ebor the last time Ger Lyons had a winner there.
The races for older horses may have less Royal Ascot impact but are no less interesting. The Owenstown Stud Stakes at 3:20 could produce a surprise result with front of the market perhaps vulnerable; Yosemite Valley was taken out on ground like this last week while Tarawa finds winning difficult. Something like Special Wan or Quar Shamar may be able to spring an upset.
Starliner makes a bit of appeal in the Royal Ascot Trials at Naas Handicap at 4:30, some of his maiden form from last year proving strong, and things not working out for him when well-backed on nursery debut off this mark at Dundalk last October, rushed up into the lead sooner than ideal.
He shaped quite well when running over this course-and-distance last month, caught out by both the steady pace and the lack of a recent run, and should be able to do better now but my idea of the best bet on the card is SEA CHARIOT in the Tote Guarantee Available On Course & Tote.ie Handicap at 5:00.
John Murphy’s four-year-old was an eye-catcher in the three-year-old mile handicap on this card last year from a two pounds higher mark than today, squeezed out at the start and still last turning in before finishing strongly up the unfavoured middle of the track to take fifth.
That form proved strong subsequently, the runner-up Broadhurst winning the Sovereign Path on his next start before landing his first two races in Hong Kong, while the third also won next time.
Sea Chariot was not in the same form when returned from a break in mid-summer, seeming not to handle the track at Killarney which was unusual for one from his yard, but came back to his best on the all-weather towards the end of the year, winning after a break then shaping better than the result in a couple of conditions races, looking in need of a stronger pace in both instances, the latter race working out well.
He is a horse that prefers a good pace to run at which seems likely this afternoon given the presence of horses like Exquisite Appeal, Spanish Tenor, Sectarius and Eastern Wind, while he gone well fresh in the past too and his yard have been among the winners lately.
Preview posted at 0923 BST on 19/05/24
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