AIDAN O’BRIEN has mysteriously pulled a Royal Ascot winner ‘who can really move’ from a £500,000 race.
The Ballydoyle boss swung the axe on Hampton Court Stakes hero Trinity College’s planned run in the German Derby on Sunday.
The Mega AgencyHampton Court Stakes winner Trinity College was all set to run in the German Derby on Sunday but trainer Aidan O’Brien suddenly pulled the plug on his participation[/caption]
Trinity College’s French Derby fourth automatically got him an entry in the Group 1 won last year by former Nicky Henderson inmate and world’s most expensive jumps horse Palladium.
He had been installed favourite by bookies on the back of his Ascot heroics.
But just 48 hours after putting him in the race O’Brien scrapped Trinity College’s entry, leaving him without a runner.
It came as word spread O’Brien was set to supplement The Lion In Winter into a blockbuster Prix Jean Prat on Sunday.
The former Derby favourite, who is 25-1 for the City Of York stakes having been given an entry over 7f there too, could line up against Juddmonte’s Cosmic Year and Godolphin’s Dewhurst winner Shadow Of Light.
But it is not immediately clear what’s next for Trinity College.
The three-year-old colt was sent off 5-2 favourite for the Royal Ascot Group 3.
And he looked every inch a Group 1 performer as he made all over the 1m2f trip, seeing off runner-up Tornado Alert by a comfortable three-and-a-half lengths.
O’Brien waxed lyrical about him after, saying: “It looks like he’s improving. He’s quick.
“When Ryan (Moore, jockey) started getting him to move, he really moved and kept going to the line so you’d be very happy with him. “
“He would have a lot of options – he could be an American Derby horse.”
Trinity College isn’t lacking for entries coming up.
He could run next week in the 1m4f Princess Of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket’s July Festival.
He also holds a lofty entry in the King George at the end of the month, although stablemate Jan Brueghel is likely to take spot there in a mouthwatering Coronation Cup rematch vs Calandagan.
Trinity College is 66-1 for the mile Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood on July 30 while he also has entries in the Juddmonte over a trip that would suit and the Irish Champion Stakes in September.
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