Red-hot trainer could extend excellent run in interesting Listed affair

Navigation Stakes (Listed) | 1m | 3yo+ | RTV

If you stuck a tenner on each of Ken Condon’s 117 runners in Ireland this season, you would be €625 richer.

Condon, who now trains from Dessie Hughes’s old Osborne Lodge stable, has won three Group 2s already this season but the victory of Could Be King in the Sovereign Path Premier Handicap at Leopardstown during Irish Champions Weekend was his biggest payday.

That competitive 7f event had a winner’s cheque of €73,750 and Could Be King deserved every penny of it after carrying ten stone to victory under Billy Lee.

The way the rapidly improving four-year-old stormed home down the outside to win going away by three-quarters of a length off a mark of 101 suggests the step up to a mile is well within his range.

The handicapper rates him the second-best horse in this race with a mark of 106, 3lb below Flight Risk, but he is five years younger than that rival and the best may yet be to come.

Fame And Acclaim has enjoyed a very successful season. He won three in a row, including over this course and distance, before his winning streak came to an end in a Listed event last time. He was sent off favourite there, but could only finish sixth to the Hong Kong-bound Aztec Parade.

Aidan O'Brien: runs Keats and King Of AthensCredit: Patrick McCann

Keats did not do a whole lot wrong when second at Listowel last week but he could be tapped for toe over a mile, while Saltonstall bled from the nose when third at Gowran Park ten days ago which is worrying.

It is a competitive contest but Could Be King appears the one with the most scope for improvement and gets the vote to boost Condon’s cracking level-stakes profit this season.

What they say

Ken Condon, trainer of Could Be King
It was a really good performance under top weight at Leopardstown and this looks the right sort of race for him. He’s back up to a mile, but he ran very well behind Ancient Spirit at this trip earlier in the season, and, if he does things right through the first few furlongs, he should be fine.

Ado McGuinness, trainer of Saltonstall
You have to be running in races like these with the rating he has. He had a few days out in the field after his run at Gowran, but he’s come back in super shape. He’s working well and looks great.

Aidan O’Brien, trainer of Keats and King Of Athens
We were delighted with the way Keats ran at Listowel last week and he coped well with the shorter trip. He’s come out of the race in good shape and we're very happy with him. King Of Athens needs to improve a bit on what he’s showed recently, but we think going around a bend might suit him better so hopefully he will produce an improved display.

Joseph O’Brien, trainer of Fame And Acclaim
He’s had a very good season so far. We probably backed him up too quickly last time, so we’re hoping he can return to his best form from earlier in the campaign here.

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