Charlie Appleby: Adayar deserves to be Prince of Wales's joint-favourite - and Native Trail won't be far away in Queen Anne

Adayar delighted Charlie Appleby in a gallop on Newmarket’s July course on Wednesday and the trainer hopes patience will be rewarded when the Derby winner finally gets a chance to show what he can do at Royal Ascot.

The 2021 Epsom victor is general 2-1 joint-favourite with Luxembourg for the Prince of Wales’s Stakes next Wednesday, a status Appleby thinks the son of Frankel deserves.

Adayar is a rarity as a Derby winner still in training at five, and he headlined a mini Royal Ascot gallops morning from the Moulton Paddocks team on Wednesday, finishing with his ears pricked in a seven-furlong exercise under William Buick.

It echoed a racecourse gallop on the neighbouring Rowley Mile in April before Adayar won the rearranged Group 3 Gordon Richards Stakes back there the following month, when accounting for subsequent French Group 1 winner Anmaat.  

Adayar and William Buick at the July Course

Appleby said of the exercise in which Adayar was led by Kemari (Kieren Fallon): “It's only a week out from Royal Ascot so we’re not going to be asking for a thunderous piece of work, but we just came up here to let them enjoy themselves and take a bit of gas out of them.

“Adayar had a nice pleasing piece of simple work as he's there now, and William was delighted with him. You saw his enthusiasm in the gallop that he was dragging William to the lead there and he went through the line well,  finishing with his ears pricked. It’s a great experience and we are lucky that we are able to come here and be able to do it. 

“We did the same with him when we took him to the Rowley Mile before he won the Gordon Richards Stakes. The lorry ride is very important in that they know they aren’t going to go into the fire every time they go on a horsebox. He goes into the Prince of Wales's as joint-favourite and deservedly so on what we saw at the Guineas meeting."

Adayar has never appeared at Royal Ascot, and Appleby said: “He missed the meeting last year and hopefully the horse can get his reward for staying in training. 

“Any of these Group 1 races are hard to win, and if you think we’ve just got Luxembourg and Bay Bridge to worry about then more fool you. Whoever turns up, we will respect them.”

Appleby will be hoping to get on the board at the start of the five-day fixture as he has both Modern Games and Native Trail in the opening Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes on Tuesday.

Lockinge winner Modern Games, the top-priced 7-4 favourite, stayed at home on this occasion, but Native Trail worked six and a half furlongs under James Doyle with a lead horse. 

Appleby said of the general 8-1 chance: “Native Trail has come forward for his first run at Newmarket and we were pleased with him. He had wind surgery over the winter, but I was very pleased with that. Like many of these older horses he needs a bit of work and you could see the improvement from that run. 

Native Trail and James Doyle

"I was pleased with what we saw this morning and you could hear that raspiness in him, but it doesn’t stop him and he hit the line strong. 

"He and Modern Games, who stayed at home as he’s done enough, will head to the Queen Anne and I’m sure Native Trail won’t be too far away from him.”

Former Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Yibir will be heading into the unknown in Thursday’s Ascot Gold Cup, but he should strip fitter for his first start in ten months at Newbury last time. He covered a mile under Shane Featherstonhaugh upsides New London (Oscar Urbina).

The Godolphin trainer said: “Yibir heads to the Gold Cup and showed his old enthusiasm in his work. He’s definitely come forward from his run at Newbury. We know it’s an extra mile on top of his trip now, but what we’ve seen with the likes of Broome, these older mile-and-a-half horses can do it. 

"What the jockeys say in the Gold Cup is that you can get the two miles but it’s beyond that which is an extreme distance for our Flat horses.

“To say he’s going to get the two and a half miles would be a bit bold, but he has the right running style and likes fast ground. If he’s still there when the bell rings [on the home turn] he'd be a live player."

Queen Anne Stakes (2.30 June 20, Royal Ascot)

Coral: 13-8 Modern Games, 2 Inspiral, 7 Native Trail, 8 Erevann, 11 Chindit, 16 Mutasaabeq, 20 bar

Prince of Wales’s Stakes (4.20 June 21, Royal Ascot)

Coral: 2 Adayar, Luxembourg, 4 Bay Bridge, My Prospero, 12 Emily Upjohn, Simca Mille, 16 Dubai Honour, Point Lonsdale, 20 Above The Curve, Nashwa, 25 bar

Ascot Gold Cup (4.20 June 22, Royal Ascot)

Coral: 11-4 Coltrane, 3 Eldar Eldarov, 6 Emily Dickinson, 8 Courage Mon Ami, 9 Echoes In Rain, 10 Broome, Subjectivist, Yibir, 14 Point King, 20 bar

Read more:

2023 Queen Anne Stakes: assessing the top contenders for the Royal Ascot curtain-raiser 

2023 Prince of Wales's Stakes: assessing the top contenders for the star-studded Group 1 on day two of Royal Ascot 

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