Royal Ascot Day 5 preview Aidan O’Brien has enjoyed a great week at Ascot and the Ballydoyle trainer has leading fancies in five of the seven races on the final day of the meeting. One of the most interesting races on the card is the Group 3 Jersey Stakes and his River Tiber can reverse Irish 2000 Guineas form with old rival Haatem. When they finished second and third at the Curragh, River Tiber was a length and a quarter behind that rival but was having his first run in almost eight months and not much went right for him.
In the aftermath, O’Brien said that the way the race was run meant his stamina for the mile was inconclusive. On the day, Haatem had the run of the race and could not be faulted for his effort, but the drop back to seven furlongs is more of a positive for River Tiber than it is for him, and that sways the verdict in favour of the Ballydoyle runner, who remains somewhat unexposed. The Michael Stoute-trained Never So Brave has plenty to find on form but he hasn’t had many chances, looks particularly progressive, and offers each-way value.
The longest Flat race of the season, the Queen Alexandra Stakes, wraps up the meeting and the Joseph O’Brien-trained Uxmal makes plenty of each-way value at about 14-1. Although still quite lightly raced, at the start of his career he looked something of a frustrating sort, and even at Tramore in the latter stages of last season and won a maiden by a wide margin, some doubt remained. Rated 79 when he won that race, h.
