'He's a fine, big horse who we like' - which of the Ballydoyle brigade can resume their Beresford domination?

A lot of strange things happened in 2022. There were three British prime ministers within the space of two months, Twitter was sold to Elon Musk and Arsenal looked like winning the Premier League. Aidan O'Brien not winning the Beresford Stakes was another.

He had won the previous 11 runnings in a row and 21 of them in all, and Adelaide River was 4-7 to make that 22. He couldn't do it as Crypto Force was too good for him and ended the Ballydoyle Beresford domination to become the first winner since 2018 not to be sent off favourite.

This time around O'Brien has half of the field but with Ryan Moore on duty in Australia, it is hard to get a handle on who is the stable's number one. Frankie Dettori is on Navy Seal, who justified 1-4 favouritism in a Galway maiden last time but touched an in-running high of 10-1 on Betfair in doing so. A mile looks as short as he would want.

Grosvenor Square also won a Galway maiden on his most recent start just 11 days ago, and he went 7-1 in-running on Betfair having looked in deep trouble before the home turn. The further he went, the better he looked and champion jockey Colin Keane has been booked.

Grosvenor Square: will be ridden by Colin Keane in the BeresfordCredit: Patrick McCann

It appears that Chief Little Rock, with Gavin Ryan aboard, is the least fancied of the three but he was supported as if defeat were out of the question when winning his Leopardstown maiden last time and, while he had to work hard to get the job done, it would be foolish to underestimate him.

Of the Ballydoyle trio, Grosvenor Square is the one with the highest RPR. He earned a mark of 91 for his recent success, while Navy Seal got 88 and Chief Little Rock got 84. They are all, of course, open to any amount of improvement.

All three could win, but could be beaten too as the Joseph O'Brien-trained Stromberg could be anything.

The son of Iffraaj was put in his place by Caught U Looking on debut, but has won his next two outings at Galway and Roscommon by a combined total of 17 lengths. On both occasions, he posted RPRs of 97. He will relish conditions and the step up to a mile shouldn't pose a problem.

Deepone is interesting too. He couldn't live with Derby hope Diego Velazquez in the closing stages of a Group 2 at Leopardstown last time, but moved up menacingly on the home turn and has an official rating of 102. He has plenty of experience.

The Andy Oliver-trained Ozark Daze completes the line-up, but he was only fifth of nine in a Naas maiden on his sole start and could struggle.

Of O'Brien's 21 winners, the ones who went on to be most successful were St Nicholas Abbey (2009), Capri (2016), Saxon Warrior (2017), Japan (2018) and Luxembourg (2021).

What they say

Aidan O'Brien, trainer of Chief Little Rock, Grosvenor Square and Navy Seal
Frankie [Dettori, jockey] is on Navy Seal who was green around Galway the last day, even though he won nicely at the line, and he was green the first day too at Killarney. We think he will progress again and he should hopefully improve. Grosvenor Square is a fine, big horse who we like. He was green at Galway on his debut as well but once he got the hang of things he won nicely, and we were delighted with him. We think he will step forward from that. We thought Chief Little Rock might win a bit easier than he did at Leopardstown but we think he might keep on improving with racing.

Joseph O'Brien, trainer of Stromberg
He steps up in class, but he's earned a crack at it. He's in good shape and we're looking forward to seeing how he gets on in this sort of company.

Stromberg: chief threat to the Ballydoyle trioCredit: Patrick McCann

Paddy Twomey, trainer of Deepone
I'm looking forward to running him. He came out of the race at Leopardstown in good order and the sectionals showed that he did the fastest last three furlongs. This looked the right race for him next.

Andy Oliver, trainer of Ozark Daze
He's a horse we always thought a lot of. He took us all by surprise with the way he jumped out of the stalls at Naas. He was too free there and just got tired. He's got a lovely pedigree and we said we'd let him take his chance.

Saturday previews:

1.30 Newbury: 'We need to get a run into her' - can anyone stop high-class Sense Of Duty on belated comeback?

2.25 Ayr: 'We've trained him for this race - who fancies their Ayr Silver Cup chances?   

3.00 Ayr: 'I find it odd she's such a short-price favourite but I hope the market is right' - key quotes for the Firth of Clyde   

3.15 Newbury: 'I just don't know whether this ground will suit him' - who will handle testing conditions best in Mill Reef?   

3.35 Ayr: 'This really should be his day and he's got a great chance' - top trainers on their Ayr Gold Cup hopefuls   

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