'He's a horse to look forward to' - Aidan O'Brien impressed as River Tiber affirms Royal Ascot claims

Coventry Stakes market leader River Tiber was trimmed for the Royal Ascot juvenile prize next month after justifying 2-9 favouritism in the Coolmore Stud Calyx Race.

The son of Wootton Bassett, whose Ascot odds now range from 9-4 to 3-1, was making it two from two after a deeply impressive debut win on soft ground at Navan the previous month.

On this quicker ground it was not quite so straightforward as he was off the bridle under Ryan Moore two furlongs out. Gradually, though, he began to get on top and was strong to the line in seeing off speedy front-runner Tourist by two and a half lengths.

Trainer Aidan O'Brien said: "I'm very happy we ran him. He's not had anything to take him off the bridle at home and at Navan he won very easily, so he probably didn't know a lot.

"It was good today that there was a good strong pace on good ground. Ryan had to get down and make him stretch, so he will have learned a lot about it today.

"I thought he might not even come off the bridle today, but the runner-up is obviously a good horse and took him off the bridle. He's one to look forward to. We thought he would be a Coventry horse. Ryan felt the quicker ground was no problem to him and he'll not get ground any quicker than that at Ascot."

Antarctic freezes out rivals

The Antarctic stepped up on his seasonal bow at Navan last month as he provided O'Brien and Moore with a double in the feature Group 3 Goffs Lacken Stakes.

The Dark Angel colt got first run on most of his rivals and just held off his Navan conqueror Ocean Quest by a head, with the two separated by almost the width of the track.

The winner is likely to take up an engagement in either the King's Stand Stakes or Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.

O'Brien said: "He needed it at Navan but probably needed it today as well – that will really leave a lovely edge on him. He got a little bit lonely in front and a little bit idle, but Ryan was delighted with him."

New partnership strike

The new Curragh training partnership between Tracey Collins and Michael Halford has taken a few months to reach the winner's enclosure, but the first success came in a good race as five-year-old Cosmic Vega held on to land the Listed Owenstown Stud Stakes.

The in-form Ronan Whelan gained a vital couple of lengths in the straight, which made all the difference as he held on by a short head from the strong-finishing Sharlouk.

Explaining how the partnership came about between him and Collins, Halford said: "Change of fortunes, change of circumstances, new surroundings – but we are settling in well. Myself and Tracey have a lot in common with the way we train and there was no better place for me to go on that side of the Curragh. Conyngham Lodge is a wonderful facility and steeped in history.

"I had a chat with Tracey before Christmas. Her numbers were down and I needed somewhere to go. It just made sense, not only with how we both train but the types of owner-breeders that we train for.

"We teased it out during January and hopefully it will work out for both of us. Come the end of the month we'll have about 55 horses in."

Church answers Murtagh's prayers

There was no more impressive winner on the day than the Johnny Murtagh-trained Ladies Church, who spreadeagled her rivals in the Listed Sole Power Sprint Stakes and was cut to a general 14-1 (from 33) for the King's Stand Stakes.

The filly quickened up impressively for Ben Coen to score by three lengths, and Murtagh said: "She's a filly we always thought the world of. The ground is key and the faster they go, the better. No horse can take her off the bridle.

"When she gets to the front she can prick her ears, so we put the cheekpieces on to help her. The King's Stand is next. We think she's a Group 1 filly and there's no better place to find out."

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