English/Ire
Trinity College charges to Hampton Court victory
Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore enjoyed a treble on day three of Royal Ascot courtesy of Trinity College’s dominant display in the Group 3 Hampton Court Stakes.
Running on the back of finishing fourth in the Prix du Jockey Club, the son of Dubawi set even fractions before pouring it on in the straight, ultimately winning by a commanding three and a half lengths from the runner-up Tornado Alert, who also emerged with plenty of credit after finishing sixth in the Epsom Derby.
"Ryan gave Trinity College a beautiful ride," said O'Brien. "He had him in a lovely rhythm and, when he started getting him to move, he really kept going to the line, so you would be very happy with him now.
"Ryan was going to go forward. He does that a lot and is happy to be forward. I didn't ask him, but I imagine Trinity College would be happy to get a lead. He got it exactly spot on.
On future plans, he added: "He has a lot of options. He could be an Eclipse horse or an American Derby horse. I would say he is improving. We always thought he was a high enough class horse last year as a two-year-old, but things just didn't fall for him. He has probably matured and got stronger now."
Never So Braves bolts up in Buckingham Palaces Stakes
Just over an hour after steering Arabian Story to victory in the Britannia Stakes, Oisin Murphy was back in the winners' enclosure thanks to a dominant display from Never So Brave in the Buckingham Palace Stakes.
Formerly trained by the recently retired Sir Michael Stoute, Never So Brave returned to the Royal meeting for the second time having finished sixth in the Group 3 Jersey Stakes last year.
After a somewhat unlucky second at Chester on his stable debut at Chester last month, the son of No Nay Never was a 9/2 chance for trainer Andrew Balding and jockey Oisin Murphy.
Balding said: "Never So Brave was gelded over the winter, which may have helped him, but I know Sir Michael always had a high opinion of him. He ran in the Jersey Stakes last year and was probably a Group horse in a handicap today.
"I think the key to him is to try to get him to relax at an early stage of the race. He has an excellent turn of foot if he can do that. He has been easy to train, although the guys at home have done a brilliant job because he is not a very patient horse. He wants to get up the gallops first and get his exercise done. They have done a lovely job with him."
Murphy added: "Never So Brave was very good. His work has been excellent. I was worried he might get stuck in traffic from that draw [28], but he didn't, and I deliberately started a bit further back to allow the race to happen in front of him. He got there very easily.
"He is a four-year-old now and I would hope he will step up to Pattern company. His work at home has been much better than a handicapper. All the lads in the yard were very confident. I think it was a lot of their money that made him favourite."
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