By Daithi Harvey
Aidan O'Brien finished up Royal Ascot week as the meeting's leading trainer with four winners from 52 runners and while it was inevitable that some reputations were slightly dented over the five days, the trainer was keen to take plenty of positives from the performances of some of the beaten Ballydoyle runners. One in particular was Sergei Prokofiev (Scat Daddy), who finished third to Calyx (GB) (Kingman {GB}) in the G2 Coventry S. on Tuesday.
“He ran very well. He was drawn on the other side to the winner but Ryan [Moore] was very happy with him,” O'Brien said. “He is a big horse but we've not forced him in any way yet. We think he is going to be a horse to look forward to.”
Sergei Prokofiev earned a 'TDN Rising Star' when winning over five furlongs at Navan in April and while he appeared to have no trouble with the extra furlong last week O'Brien has no plans to try him over any further for the time being. “He was always going to step up to six furlongs and he will probably even get further than that. We were very happy with the run. Something like the [G1] Prix Morny [Aug. 19] we could look at but we won't be in any panic with him. He obviously has the [G1 Keeneland] Phoenix [on Aug. 12 at The Curragh] that he could go for as well.”
Another O'Brien horse that could revert to six furlongs after three consecutive runs over a mile is U S Navy Flag (War Front). The full-brother to Roly Poly is a Group 1 winner over six furlongs as a juvenile and after setting a strong gallop in the G1 St James's Palace S. on Tuesday he weakened in the last furlong to finish in rear behind Without Parole (GB) (Frankel {GB}).
“U S Navy Flag is a very fast horse and there is every chance he might sharpen up in trip after this,” said O'Brien. “There was always a possibility that would happen as he is fast and he wants to get it done. He is a Middle Park winner at the end of the day. The July Cup is obviously a possibility but it's not been decided yet.”
Meanwhile G1 Investec Epsom Derby fourth Saxon Warrior (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) was the subject of positive report ahead of the colt's next mission in the G1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at The Curragh on Saturday.
“He seems good and Donnacha rode him in his work on Saturday,” he said. “It is so far so good and the plan is to go for the Irish Derby and we are looking forward to that.”
The G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas winner lost his unbeaten record at Epsom and scuppered previously held Triple Crown aspirations and O'Brien is very much hoping Saxon Warrior can redeem himself at the weekend.
Said O'Brien, “He ran a great race at Epsom. He was a little bit at sea on the track. He was a little bit babyish in his mind and found the whole experience different. Ryan looked after him, which was the right thing to do and he came out the race very well, which the main thing. We think he will have grown up and learnt a lot for that experience.”
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