Daily Mirror

CHURCHILL GETS VOTE

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CHURCHILL, the first of Aidan O’Brien’s Royal Ascot 2017 hotpots, is very hard to get away from.

The champion two-yearold of last season, which he crowned with an emphatic successes in the National Stakes at the Curragh in September and Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket in October, Churchill has continued in similarly dominant fashion this year.

Sent back to the Rowley Mile for the 2,000 Guineas, Ryan Moore’s mount was strong at the finish to hold Barney Roy

by a length, with the victor’s stablemate Lancaster Bomber close up in fourth.

Some judged the runner-up an unlucky loser that day, but Churchill always looked to have matters in hand before following up in the Irish Guineas at the Curragh.

Torrential rain in Co Kildare gave O’Brien cause for concern, but he needn’t have worried as his son of super stallion Galileo Thunder stormed away from Snow,

like Barney Roy representi­ng Godolphin, to win by two and a half lengths.

His Guineas double makes Churchill the best horse in the eight-strong line-up, and his latest performanc­e, a personal best, suggests he is still on the up.

Like his namesake, the Ballydoyle colt looks capable of dealing with any tactical plan his foes come up with, and the week will start on a sour note for punters if he fails to complete a nap hand of toplevel triumphs.

Barney Roy had won Newbury’s Greenham Stakes prior to his Guineas defeat and again looks the principal danger. Rivet

has been beaten three times this year and has it to prove and, with with Thunder Snow now equipped with cheekpiece­s, Lancaster Bomber gets the vote for the bronze.

 ??  ?? PRIME MOVER Churchill will be hard to beat today
PRIME MOVER Churchill will be hard to beat today

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