IT feels like déjà vu all over again recording another excellent Royal Ascot for Irish trainers, 14 winners there a record and beating the previous high of 12 in 2023, three yards providing all those winners.

Aidan O’Brien equalled his previous best of seven Royal Ascot winners, achieved 10 years ago in 2016, with a diverse spread of success - two two-year-old wins, one a colt, the other a filly, three three-year-old wins, a colt, a filly and a gelding (!), and two older horse wins.

In ways, the most O’Brien winner of them all was Illinois in the Queen Alexandra, the five-year-old backing up from the Coronation Cup 14 days ago, where he was beaten 142 lengths, to land a battling success by a neck.

The main Irish story of Ascot might have been Joseph O’Brien, however. His yard has gone hard at Ascot in recent years with mixed results, albeit not always getting the hop of the ball in competitive races. Going into this year, he had four Royal Ascot winners from 113 runners, 65 of those runners having come between 2023 and 2025.

Came together

This year, everything came together and then some, as he had five winners from 32 runners, along with 12 total places, three of them finishing second. Three of those winners won uber-competitive handicaps in fields of 19, 20 and 30 runners respectively, while King Of Cloughan had 24 opponents to beat in the Windsor Castle.

Fozzy Stack sent over two runners, and both won, Nola Soul overcoming keenness to stay on well and land the Chesham Stakes, Thesecretadversary then showing he was better than his Irish 2000 Guineas sixth when meeting trouble to win the Jersey Stakes.

2000 Guineas

He came clear with another Irish runner in Take Charge Star, who also ran in the Irish 2000 Guineas, the form of that race looking strong with Gstaad going oh so close in the St James’s Palace.

Johnny Murtagh can count himself a little unlucky not to come away with a winner, his Believed only beaten three-quarters of a length in the King George V Stakes.

THE Ulster Derby at Down Royal on Saturday was a thriller, a stop-start pace playing a big part as the field compacted into the closing stages.

The sectional heatmaps via Course Track point to decent early pace then a slow middle before a fast finish, and the horses that came from behind are worth upgrading.

Chief among those is the winner Madbadanddangerous, who proved his last run all wrong, overcoming a little shuffling in the final half mile to quicken up sharply down the inner, value for more than the three-quarter length margin and unlikely to go up much for this.

Along with the second Pierre Grosse, he franked the form of the Leopardstown handicap won by Cape Cod back in April, the winner not seen since. The runner-up proved well-suited by a step up in trip and deserves credit for coming from off the pace, though he was on and off the bridle throughout and might benefit for headgear.

Shaped well

The third Bay Of Stars was the one that met most trouble and looked to have more to give, while the fifth Mergus Serrator shaped well on handicap debut.

The least experienced runner in the field, he was coming from maidens that worked out well, but had a very wide trip especially in the closing stages and is worth another chance.

Harmani also shaped a bit better than the result in seventh, travelling well and probably not getting home, the ground on the slow side too.

Chica Guerrera was one of a few wide-margin winners on the day in the Ulster Oaks, though her revised mark may make life tough in the future. Racing behind horses seemed to suit her better than pushing the pace here.

Maurice Ahern has had a good flat season already, four winners including one in a premier handicap, and his Counting Coup looked another decent prospect in winning the closing maiden.

Going up against solid types from bigger yards, the six-year-old ran out a three-length winner and was value for more as he travelled well and didn’t handle the final bend. He only made his debut in a bumper in May, but has a future if he can be kept right.

Galway looms

Galway starts to loom on the horizon from now on, and Aquilla Star showed a bit in the 10-furlong handicap for three-year-olds earlier on the card.

She caught the eye on her third maiden run at Leopardstown last backend, which came less than three weeks after her first start before coming from a long way back at Galway to finish second in a nursery, while meeting some trouble.

She had her first start since last Saturday and was weak in the betting, but travelled nicely for much of the race despite repeatedly getting forced wide. This trip may have stretched her, but the extended mile at Galway should be ideal, and she looks on a good mark.

ROYAL Ascot took most of the attention last week, but Irish racing was in the news for the wrong reasons at Limerick on Friday evening, where the IHRB Rule 212, i.e. the non-trier rule, was applied to Eben Zabeel, Tony Martin and Seamie Heffernan in what looked an egregious breach.

The horse was banned for 60 days, the trainer got a €3,000 fine, while the rider was suspended for 14 days, penalties that are in the mid-range for offences like this, and they can perhaps count themselves fortunate to have avoided stiffer penalties akin to those initially applied to Longhouse Force at Thurles in December 2021. In that case, it was 90 days, €6,000 and 21 days, all later reduced on appeal.

Like many Martin horses, Eben Zabeel was taken back for cover early in the mile and six-furlong handicap, racing freely but travelling well leaving the back straight, Heffernan taking a pull three and a half furlongs out.

Still in rear, he appeared to be going best in the straight, the rider asking for little in behind horses, the whip briefly and tepidly pulled a furlong from home when the horse was asked for slightly more.

Plenty to give

He finished well, covering the final furlong 0.52 seconds faster than the next best, looking to have plenty to give, most sensible race riders likely holding the view that he would have won if asked for more.

Readers of the post-race report could also be forgiven for feeling gaslit by the material therein.

Heffernan was accurate in his comments about his mount’s keenness, although the line about ‘filling him up to come home well’ rang hollow - at what point was a timely, real and substantial effort made to get Eben Zabeel to come home?

Clean record

Then there was the line about having considered the trainer’s ‘clean record in this regard’ when deciding about the level of punishment. Tony Martin had his training licence suspended for six months in 2024 for anti-doping breaches, a suspension that was increased by two months when the trainer appeared involved in the Northumberland Vase win of Alphonse Le Grande while banned, the horse then trained by his sister Cathy O’Leary.

That was the third time in four years one of his horses had tested positive, and while this was different to Rule 212, there have also been cases of that for the trainer. The rider of his Friendly Star received a minimal ban at Galway in October 2022, while there was the controversial Pyromaniac case back in 2016.

In any case, Eben Zabeel will not be taking up his entry in the Northumberland Plate this weekend.