ROYAL ASCOT REPORT AND PREVIEW: YEATS ATTEMPTS to secure a unique place in Ascot Gold Cup history today by trying to become the first horse ever to win the prestigious Group One marathon for a fourth time. But the Aidan O'Brien team will be hoping for a happier outcome than the last time a Ballydoyle superstar attempted a similar four-in-a-row.
If anything the hype around Istabraq’s bid to win four Champion Hurdles in succession in 2002 was in a different league to what has surrounded Yeats in the build-up to this afternoon’s centrepiece.
Cheltenham’s cancellation due to foot and mouth in 2001 looked to have robbed Istabraq of his best opportunity of a fourth Champion Hurdle and by the time he got round to trying it, an awful lot of hope and sentiment disappeared when he had to be pulled up.
Simply put, father time looked to have taken its toll and the worry for Yeats’ supporters today will be that a similar fate awaits what has been the outstanding stayer of the modern era.
Only he and Sagaro (1975-76-77) have ever won the Gold Cup three times and it would have seemed ludicrous last autumn when Yeats impressively won the French St Leger that such doubt would surround his bid at Ascot history.
What has changed things is a spectacularly lacklustre reappearance at Navan when Yeats flopped badly in the Vintage Crop Stakes.
Ground conditions were admittedly very soft but the horse was beaten too far, and too easily, for that to be the sole reason. Since then Aidan O’Brien has upped Yeats’s workload and taken him away from Ballydoyle’s daily routine to work.
However, the champion trainer has repeatedly used the phrase “a year older and a year wiser” about the eight-year-old and the impression is that even the Ballydoyle brains trust are hoping rather than expecting today.
In the circumstances then a combination of short odds and sentiment may not be the logical play so the logical alternative looks to be the rising star Patkai.
It is 31 years since Shangamuzo provided Michael Stoute with his sole Gold Cup success to date and Patkai is coming off a defeat by Geordieland in the King Henry II Stakes at Sandown last time.
However, Ryan Moore could have played his hand too early in that race and a more patient approach may suit a horse who is unbeaten in two starts at Ascot.
O’Brien’s principal focus will rest on Yeats this afternoon but the concluding King George V Stakes takes on much greater significance than normal for the Ballydoyle trainer as his 16-year-old son Joseph has a first ever Royal Ascot ride on Johann Zoffany.
O’Brien jnr broke his duck on the same horse at Leopardstown last month and this should be a memorable experience.
A better O’Brien option today though may turn out to be Freemantle who looks to hold a major chance in the Hampton Court Stakes on his Dante performance.
IRISH PREVIEW
FAMOUS NAME looks to have his ideal conditions at Leopardstown this evening and Dermot Weld’s high-class colt can win his first race of the year in the Nijinksy Stakes, writes Brian O’Connor.
Narrowly beaten in last year’s French Derby by Vision D’Etat, Famous Name was also a Group One runner-up on his last start behind stable companion Casual Conquest in the Tattersalls Gold Cup.
At the furlong pole it was hard to tell which of the Weld runners would come out on top and the trainer subsequently indicated his intention to drop Famous Name back to nine furlongs.
He gets that in this evening’s Listed feature and a little cut in the ground will also suit.
Weld and jockey Pat Smullen could also score in the mile handicap with Mr Topaz while the sole colt in the opening juvenile maiden, the Storm Cat horse Finest Artisan, can emerge best.
Ground conditions will be testing at Tipperary after heavy rain forced the cancellation of the steeplechase races. That will make no difference to the bumper runners and the finale looks to have a good betting prospect in Our Musician who failed by only a short head to beat a smart horse in Fionnegas at the Curragh.
