All eyes on Royal Ascot now, says trainer Balding
KING’S Lynn booked his Royal Ascot ticket and provided jockey David Probert with a Haydock treble when prevailing in the Group Two Temple Stakes.
The Andrew Balding-trained gelding was a 5-1 chance for the five-furlong sprint and struck from the outer of the track to take up the lead with a furlong remaining.
From there, the bay, who is owned by the Queen, began to pull away from the bulk of the field and just held off a strong-finishing Twilight Calls by a head.
King’s Lynn has been cut to 14-1 for the King’s Stand Stakes at the Royal meeting as a result and is likely to head in that direction come June.
“A really great result. Thrilled for the horse – he is a star!” said Balding, speaking from Goodwood.
“It is all eyes on Royal Ascot. Most likely the King’s Stand, but it is a conversation we will have nearer the time. He obviously is in the Platinum Jubilee and we put him in the Wokingham, just in case things didn’t work out today and we needed another avenue, but that won’t be the case now.”
Jake Warren, representing the
Queen, added: “He’s run a blinder and he’s been a really consistent horse through two, three, four and now five.
“He’s in great shape and condition and handled it really well, so it’s an amazing result for Her Majesty.
“It’s wonderful to have a result like this for her and it’s the beginning of an exciting year.”
Henry Candy, the trainer of the second-placed Twilight Calls, said: “He’s getting better. He loves really rattling fast ground, but you can’t blame the ground today.
“He wasn’t totally lucky inrunning, but take nothing away from the winner. Adam (Kirby, jockey) said the faster they go the better and I think if Wesley Ward appears at Ascot, that shouldn’t be a problem.
“They go a million miles an hour (in the King’s Stand) and hopefully it will be firm ground as well.”
Tim Easterby, trainer of the 7-2 favourite Winter Power, who finished eighth, said: “She slipped a little bit coming out of the stalls, but David (Allan, jockey) was quite happy with her. She travelled well and he said he just thought she might have needed this to put her right.
“She will go to Ascot, but we might have a look at going somewhere else first now.”
■ Charlie Appleby completed a Guineas treble as his Newmarket runner-up Native Trail obliged favourite backers in the Irish 2,000 Guineas at the Curragh on Saturday.
Last year’s champion two-year-old had to give best to his stablemate Coroebus in the first Classic of the summer on the Rowley Mile, but made no mistake this time around for Appleby.
The 2-5 winner was settled in middivision in the early stages alongside Aidan O’Brien’s Ivy League and the nearest market rival Buckaroo, but it was the Oasis Dream colt that responded best when called into action by William Buick.
Appleby said: “I was confident in William and the horse. William knows him so well and has ridden him all of his racing career and plenty at home. He knows what this horse can do. When you ask him, he’ll give it to you. He’s done it in spades in the end.”
Meanwhile, Homeless Songs ran out a hugely impressive winner of yesterday’s Irish 1,000 Guineas.
For a long way it looked like Aidan O’Brien’s 11-4 favourite Tuesday, third in the English version, was in the prime position and she moved to the lead in the home straight.
But having been ridden with restraint, the Dermot Weld-trained Homeless Songs moved effortlessly into contention and found another gear once popped the question to quickly leave her rivals trailing.
GREAT Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith insists she is just warming up as she plots her world title defence, writes Nick Mashiter.
The world 200 metres champion held off the challenge of Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson to win the 100m Diamond League race in 11.11 seconds in Birmingham at the weekend. Britain’s Daryll Neita was third at the Alexander Stadium.
Asher-Smith is gearing up to defend the 200m title she won in Doha three years ago and was happy with how things are going.
She revealed: “I feel like I’ve progressed, I feel like I’ve worked really hard, but if you speak to loads of athletes, loads of people always think they’ve improved.
“I do believe I have more scope in both 100m and 200m and we’ve worked really hard over the past three years to get that. If you think in 2019 I was just a different person mentally and in a different position physically.
“I’ve never been much of a time person because sometimes you can execute a recipe of movements and it’s a mad headwind or it’s freezing cold. I just don’t think it’s ever wise to get bogged down in whether it’s a good time, although I’ll take it.
“If it’s not such a good time there are so many things that contribute to running a fast time and so many out your control. I don’t tend to focus on it.”
The 26-year-old also helped the Great Britain women’s 4x100m team storm to victory in a worldleading time of 42.29secs.
Earlier, Canada’s Aaron Brown took the men’s 100m win in 10.13s, with Olympic champion Andre de Grasse fourth.
Of the British hopefuls, Zharnel Hughes was disqualified, with Adam Gemili fifth, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake sixth and Reece Prescod seventh, and they also suffered a nightmare in the men’s 4x100m relay. Hughes went early for the final changeover with Richard Kilty to complete a poor afternoon.
Keely Hodgkinson, who won Olympic silver last summer, ran one minute 58.63s to win the 800m comfortably to prove she has shaken off the thigh tear which forced her out of the World Indoor Championships in March, while Laura Muir took victory in the women’s 1500m, the Scot running four minutes 02.81s as she continued her build up to the World Championships in July.
Reigning world heptathlon champion Katarina JohnsonThompson was eighth in the long jump with 6.41m.