Now that Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore are up and running, we may confidently expect them to keep up the gallop for the remainder of Royal Ascot week.
Opera Singer takes centre stage in the Coronation Stakes. This is her first visit to England, having been campaigned modestly at home in Ireland as a juvenile last year until let off the leash to win the prestigious Prix Marcel Boussac in spectacular fashion at Longchamp on Arc day.
That five-length hammering of the best of the French confirmed her as Europe’s champion two-year-old filly and she was a warm order to begin her 2024 campaign with a victory in Newmarket’s 1000 Guineas until sustaining a minor, but badly timed setback.
Instead she ran in the Irish 1000 at the Curragh three weeks later and finished third, a more than satisfactory outcome, according to O’Brien, in no rush whatsoever with so many other big opportunities throughout the season, starting on Friday.
“I was absolutely over the moon with her there,” he said. “I didn’t expect her to run half as well.”
You’d have to think that Opera Singer, if still as good as she was as a two-year-old (not a given), would have won the English 1000 Guineas, which, judging by the bunch finish, was not a vintage renewal.
Well, now she has a chance to prove it because the first three at Newmarket – Elmalka, Porta Fortuna and Ramatuelle (separated by just a neck) – are all here to test her out.
They might well finish in a different order this time. Ramatuelle probably hit the front too soon on the Rowley Mile and with Oisin Murphy, on the crest of a wave this week, now taking over on the France raider, she doesn’t need to find much to turn the tables.
Another quality Ballydoyle filly, Fairy Godmother, had the perfect prep for the Albany Stakes at Naas last month; the last two winners of that contest, Porta Fortuna and Meditate, followed up in Fridays opener.
Fairy Godmother looked well up to that standard when producing a smart turn of foot to mow down some well-regarded Irish youngsters. Godolphin’s Mountain Breeze looks best of the home brigade, but the form of her two Newmarket wins hasn’t worked out too well.
The Commonwealth Cup is a relatively new Group One contest at the Royal meeting, introduced in 2015 as a fine prize in its own right, but also to identify young sprinters who might go on to be champions.
Royal Ascot 2024 tips, day four
- 2.30pm Fairy Godmother 7-4
- 3.05pm Inisherin 5-2
- 3.45pm Opera Singer 7-4
- 4.25pm Sea King (Next Best)
- 5.05pm Indelible 11-2
- 5.40pm Voyage (Each-Way) 14-1
- 6.15pm Matters Most (Best Bet) 33-1
Odds correct on 20 June via Oddschecker
It was an immediate hit and a go-to summer target for horses that didn’t have the stamina for the spring classics.
Inisherin falls into that category, having run out of gas in the 2000 Guineas before revealing his true calling with an impressive display in a Group Two Haydock sprint.
He now encounters much faster ground, but trainer Kevin Ryan is confident it won’t be a hindrance.
