Eddie Lynam brought four horses to Royal Ascot and if Slade Power can justify all the expectations around him and win a first Group One in today's Diamond Jubilee Stakes it will complete a remarkable big-race strike-rate for the Co Meath trainer this week.
Sole Power’s Kings Stand success on Tuesday was followed a day later by Anthem Alexander winning the Queen Mary, and if Odisseia let the side down later that afternoon in the Sandringham, it could hardly have been too surprising to subsequently find out she is on her way to race in the USA.
Tom Hogan’s Gordon Lord Byron provides an Aussie line of sorts, considering he won a Group One ‘down under’ in the spring, but also flies the Irish flag alongside the Ballydoyle duo, Due Diligence and Darwin. However, this looks to be Slade Power’s date with top-flight destiny.
The wise-cracking Lynam maintains he’d rather choose between his kids than between the two star sprinters owned by Sabena Power, but while “Sole” has been at the top of the game for four years, the trainer maintains “Slade” is only now coming to his peak.
A Greenlands win last month oozed class and Lynam said yesterday: “It looked like he’d improved and that would in keeping with what he has done every season. Every year he gets a little better.
“It would cap an unbelievable week if he wins. Asking for three out of four might be asking a bit much but thankfully Slade Power doesn’t know that: he’s got no excuses. I’m not worried about the ground and he’s a course and distance winner.”
Irish horses have a great record in the finale, the Queen Alexandra Stakes and Pique Sous looks a serious candidate to repeat Simenon's 2012 win in the race for Willie Mullins.
