Aidan O’Brien’s powerhouse stable fires star performer Japan at Wednesday’s (17 June) highlight race at Royal Ascot as Ireland’s champion trainer bids to win the G1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes for a fourth time.
Japan has earned the right to be a hot favourite with a string of top class performances last summer when he followed up an easy victory in Royal Ascot’s G2 King Edward VII Stakes with G1 triumphs in the Grand Prix de Paris and International Stakes.
The first two were over 2400m and the latter, at York, over 2051m. Rivals will be hoping that the shorter, 1993m, trip may not suit Japan so well but O’Brien does not seem concerned about a marginally shorter distance than the four-year-old’s battling victory over Crystal Ocean in the International Stakes.
“I don’t think the switch to one and a quarter miles will be a problem for him,” he said. “He was happy at York, which is a flat track and is comfortable at one and a quarter miles. He’s a very relaxed horse, a good traveller in a race who can be a bit lazy when he gets to the front but has a good attitude.”
Opponents looking for a weakness in Japan’s armour may seize on the fact that the Galileo colt has not run for more than eight months.
“We would like to have given him a run before Ascot and, although he is in good form and ready to start, he will come on for the run. It is the start of the season for him.”
Japan’s biggest obstacle could be Barney Roy, who won the St James’s Palace Stakes over a mile at Royal Ascot in 2017 when trained by Richard Hannon. Now with Charlie Appleby, Barney Roy had a good time in Dubai early this year, winning both his starts, a G2 and G1, over 1800m.
The six-year-old has never won beyond nine furlongs but Appleby feels it is now the right time to step him up.
“Last year we had three shots over one mile with him; I felt that he was a horse that travelled well but tended to hit a flat spot and when top milers quickened he just lacked a gear change,” Appleby said.
“At Meydan this year the best part of his races was the final furlong. Maybe over the longer trip a flat track would be ideal but there’s no reason why he can’t see it out at Ascot and I couldn’t be happier with the way he’s been training.”
The fascinating contest also features Headman and Lord North who will also have their supporters, with both promising to make the improvement needed to pose a serious threat to Japan.
