Aidan O’Brien will be looking to make history as Royal Ascot begins this afternoon; he’s looking to become the first man to train 100 winners at the meeting, and he has a great chance of doing so, as all of his five runners today have a decent chance of making history for the 56 year old from Wexford. His first two runners will take part in the Group 2 Coventry Stakes at 3:05, Confucius stands at 15/8 and Great Barrier Reef is at 5/1, and the good news for O’Brien is they’re the two favourites to win a race that he won last year with Gstaad; keep an eye out for him at 4:20 in the St James’s Palace Stakes. If Confucius and Great Barrier Reef fail to bring home the goods, then the honour could fall to Mission Central, ridden by Ryan Moore at 11/1. He isn’t the favourite however, that’s Overpass at 5/2, and there’s further bad news for O’Brien in that none of his horses have ended up in the winner’s stable in this specific race within the last ten years.
If all else fails, or maybe if he’s of a certain state of mind, O’Brien will be desperate to beat out Bow Echo for the St James’s Palace Stakes, and this seems on paper, that it’ll be the closest race of the day. Both horses finished first and second respectively in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket last month, but Gstaad did win the Irish equivalent at the Curragh at the end of last month. A spanner could be thrown into the works if Talk Of New York runs well, he’s the best of the rest and could spring a surprise at 9/2, and O’Brien’s second runner in the 4:20 is Puerto Rico, another outsider who currently stands at 14/1. Royal Ascot gets going from 14:30 in Berkshire, and runs until Saturday.
Preview with thanks to Luke Watson
