2,000 Guineas winners to clash at Royal Ascot

The 2,000 Guineas heroes, Rock Of Gibraltar and Landseer, in the St James's Palace Stakes, will head Aidan O'Brien's ultra powerful…

The 2,000 Guineas heroes, Rock Of Gibraltar and Landseer, in the St James's Palace Stakes, will head Aidan O'Brien's ultra powerful team for next week's Royal Ascot Festival.

The Ballydoyle trainer reported his likely runners yesterday and as well as the two classic winners, the team will also include last year's champion juvenile, Johannesburg, in the Group One Golden Jubilee Stakes over six furlongs.

The English and Irish 2,000 Guineas winner, Rock of Gibraltar, will be joined by the French 2,000 Guineas winner, Landseer, in the first-day highlight on Tuesday. It is understood that the Derby-winning jockey, John Murtagh, is likely to be on Landseer, with Michael Kinane electing to ride Rock Of Gibraltar.

Century City, runner-up in the Irish Guineas, will be aimed at the Queen Anne Stakes, while Spartacus will lead the juvenile team in the Coventry Stakes.

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"We will run one other in the Coventry. We will pick from Marino Marini, Statue Of Liberty and Ontario. Whichever of them doesn't go in the Coventry will run in the Norfolk and the Windsor Castle," O'Brien said.

Bach will again take on Nayef in Wednesday's Prince of Wales's Stakes, while Sophisticat and Alstemeria are the probables for the Group One Coronation Stakes.

The other likely Ballydoyle contenders are Proud Beauty in the Queen Mary, Tomahawk in the Chesham, Diaghilev in the King Edward VII, Black Sam Bellamy in the Queen's Vase and Starbourne is a possible for the Ribblesdale Stakes for fillies.

Meanwhile, Della Francesca earned a tilt at the Budweiser Irish Derby with a gutsy neck defeat of his market rival, Jammaal, in last night's Gallinule Stakes at Leopardstown.

Della Francesca will join the Epsom hero, High Chaparral, and the Italian Derby runner-up, Ballingarry, at the Curragh.

The Ballydoyle camp had earlier introduced Hold that Tiger, a $1.1 million half brother to the Belmont winner, Editor's Note, to make an eye-catching winning debut.

The colt looked beaten with only one behind him early in the straight, but when pulled to the outside, Hold That Tiger powered home and eventually beat Mejhar by two lengths.

That was an eight individual juvenile success of the season for O'Brien, but his stable suffered a rare reverse in the listed Rochestown Stakes when the 4.9 million francs purchase, Catcher in the Rye, could only finish third to Akanti.

The winner, who cost just £10,000, fulfilled an ambition of his trainer Ger Lyons, who said: "We have won Grade One's over fences but I never thought we would get something like this. It is so hard here in Ireland. But we took a chance and he didn't let us down. He will improve for better ground too."

Dermot Weld recorded a remarkable ninth success in the Ballycorus stakes, courtesy of Rum Charger.

Brian O'Connor

Brian O'Connor

Brian O'Connor is the racing correspondent of The Irish Times. He also writes the Tipping Point column