O’Brien hopes blinkers keep Van Dyck’s eyes on prize

AIDAN O’BRIEN believes blinkers will coax an extra few ounces of ability out of Anthony Van Dyck to make the first visit of a Derby winner here a winning one in tomorrow’s Hong Kong Vase. Ryan Moore’s mount may not have won a vintage Derby and the fitting of headgear to a Classic winner is highly unusual. But his presence here is regarded as a major milestone for racing in the former colony. Officials, if not all punters, will roar on Anthony Van Dyck as he tries to break a losing sequence of four runs since his glory day at Epsom in June in his quest for the £1.15million first prize. O’Brien, who won the Vase in 2015 and 2017 with Highland Reel, said: ‘We have decided to go with the blinkers as we just felt that, on a sharp track like Sha Tin, they might sharpen him up a bit. ‘He is very straightforward but he can be a bit lazy. Ryan gave him a spin on the grass on Thursday and he was very happy.’ British and Irish raiders have won 10 of the 25 runnings of the Vase, one of the four Hong Kong

International races, and it offers the best chance of a repeat. Six of the 14 runners fall into that category, including Roger Charlton’s Aspetar and William Haggas-trained Young Rascal, who both have the advantage of being fresh for this end-of-season prize after being targeted at the race. That is not the case with Charlie Fellowes-trained Prince Of Arran, who stops on his way back from Australia after winning the Geelong Cup and being placed in the Melbourne Cup. Improving on his eighth Vase place of last year will not be easy, though, especially with the field containing Willie Mullins-trained True Self, Oisin Murphy-ridden Deirdre — the Japanese-trained winner of the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood — plus last year’s locally-trained winner Exultant. Britain’s other representative, Sir Michael Stoute-trained Zaaki in the Mile, will find it tough.