'He's a machine' - Inisherin stamps himself a top-class sprinter with spectacular display to land Commonwealth Cup

The Commonwealth Cup is a race under pressure. 

In February, we found out it is at risk of being downgraded from a Group 1 next year due to the inadequate performances of the winners and placed horses. The quality has been missing.

Those in favour of keeping the contest, introduced in 2015 as a means of bolstering the three-year-old sprint division, may have been concerned about whether this year's race could deliver the shot of class needed after first Vandeek and then Elite Status were absentees.

And yet a bright blaze scorched down the centre of the wide-open straight at Ascot on Friday to leave a feeling of hope that the race could retain its status, at least for a little while yet.

Inisherin was electric. For all there were question marks about the depth of the Commonwealth Cup, the winner could hardly have been a better individual to act as its potential saviour.

It was not as if a win was unexpected. Owner-breeder Sheikh Mohammed Obaid had been as keen to talk about him as he was his St James's Palace Stakes winner Rosallion at the start of the week, which is the sort of outlook you want if you have paid a £46,000 supplementary fee, and punters sent him off the 9-4 favourite.

Inisherin: two out of two since being dropped to sprinting from a mile Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

But there are ways to win races and Inisherin oozed class throughout, travelling effortlessly under Tom Eaves before leaving his opponents for dust as soon as he was asked to do so. The distance back to runner-up Lake Forest was two and a quarter lengths, but really it was a chasm.

"He's very good," said trainer Kevin Ryan, who was collecting his second winner of the week following Ain't Nobody's victory in the Windsor Castle Stakes and his 11th success at the meeting overall.

"He's only going to get better, I'm sure of it. This is a good race, a race for three-year-olds who need that time to mature and can't be ready to take on the older sprinters right away."

Last year's winner Shaquille followed up his victory at Royal Ascot by winning the July Cup at Newmarket, and Inisherin is set to follow the same path as he bids to burnish his reputation.

The prospects of him doing so are likely to be aided by his attitude, with Ryan waxing lyrical about how Inisherin makes his life easy rather than a headache.

"He's got such a good temperament – most of these good horses have an edge to them but he doesn't. He's a pleasure to train," Ryan said. "He's improved from Haydock and we can train him like a sprinter now, so he's going to get quicker and better. So the July Cup is next and if everything goes right he'll be back here for Champions Day."

Inisherin will also get the opportunity to return to Royal Ascot next year, with Sheikh Mohammed Obaid asserting that the sprinter, as well as Rosallion, would be kept in training next year rather than retired to stud.

Ryan said: "So many of these horses get put away so early that it's good to see them race, which is what the owner wants to do. It was a very easy watch and he has been a pleasure to train for – it takes the pressure off, although I still put some on myself."

Kevin Ryan gives a thumbs up after Inisherin's win in the Commonwealth CupCredit: Edward Whitaker

Inisherin was cut to 5-2 favourite (from 10-1) by Paddy Power and Betfair for the My Pension Expert July Cup and earned high praise from Eaves.

“He’s a machine," the rider said. "He’s some unit of a horse. Look how long it took for him to pull up. He’s got a lot of class and he’s very quick.

“I've ridden some good sprinters, the last one being Glass Slippers, and you think well, you have to find another one. Tangerine Trees, Brando, they've all been very good, but we all know how hard they are to come across. 

"He’s very relaxed, very uncomplicated, and he showed that in the way he went through the race. He won well and I'm very thankful to everybody."

If the Commonwealth Cup is spared the axe and remains as a Group 1 next year, plenty of people will also be thankful for the dazzling display by Inisherin.

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