ST JAMES’S PALACE

STAKES (GROUP 1)

ROYAL Ascot opened in a heatwave on Tuesday, but the implacable sun will not have worried anyone in the Godolphin camp.

Sheikh Mohammed’s ‘boys in blue’ completed a treble, the highlight of which was Barney Roy’s triumph in the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes.

At 5/2 there was plenty of support for the Richard Hannon-trained runner to reverse 2000 Guineas placings with Aidan O’Brien’s 1/2 chance Churchill. The dual classic winner could manage only fourth this time, Barney Roy having more to fear from O’Brien’s Lancaster Bomber and Thunder Snow, owned, like the winner, by Godolphin.

Lancaster Bomber, an underrated horse, led early and then again as Rivet gave way inside the two-furlong marker. He kept on well but Barney Roy, coming with an irresistible run on the outside, mastered him and kept on to score by a length with Thunder Snow only a head behind the runner-up.

Barney Roy stumbled at Newmarket and might have run Churchill even closer otherwise. An Excelebration colt out of the Galileo mare Alina (a point not lost on those who follow the Coolmore-Godolphin rivalry with keen interest), he is clearly a colt out of the top drawer and received a perfectly-judged ride from James Doyle, even if his use of the whip brought a two-day suspension.

“He is a big horse and has a great, long stride,” the jockey said. “He’s a top-class miler with a good turn of foot and I wouldn’t rule out staying a bit further. This is why I joined the team – to ride big winners like this.”

DOYLE’S REDEMPTION

Doyle was understandably jubilant because at one stage it seemed his career with Godolphin might be in limbo. It seems fair enough to point out that Saeed bin Suroor did not rate him as highly as other members of the team and he went to Australia for a while. However, Godolphin were never going to drop him and this will have given him a massive boost.

Hannon felt that Barney Roy was more than a little unlucky in the Guineas and relished the chance to balance the books.

“I was confident he’d run his race without being confident he’d win,” the trainer said with a smile. “There isn’t another Guineas to go for but this is not a bad pot, is it?”

Leaving top-class horses with their original trainers – Ribchester, Barney Roy – may well influence the choice of targets. For sure, the Hannons have never ducked a challenge and the Coral-Eclipse will feature prominently in their thoughts.

Neither O’Brien nor Ryan Moore could offer any explanation for Churchill’s below-par effort though on Wednesday the trainer reported that the horse did not finish his evening rations but was still likely to head to Goodwood in a month’s time.