St James’s Palace Stakes (Group 1)

CIRCUS Maximus became the second Derby failure to win this prestigious prize in the last decade by following on from Dawn Approach in 2013. Supplemented at a cost of £45,000 for the race, Circus Maximus, under Ryan Moore, led just after the quarter-mile pole, and fought off the challenge of Too Darn Hot before he was challenged again by that colt’s stablemate King of Comedy.

He was giving the trainer/jockey combination a double on the day, taking O’Brien’s record to eight in this race and 67 at Royal Ascot. Moore also won this contest on Gleneagles for Ballydoyle in 2015, and he was bringing his own tally at the royal meeting to 55.

O’Brien explained the decision to supplement the Derby sixth, and the reasoning for replacing the cheekpieces he wore at Epsom for blinkers: “Maria (Niarchos-Gouaze), Derrick Smith, John Magnier and Michael Tabor decided at the six-day stage that they were going to supplement Circus Maximus for this race and we just ran with it. It is hard to believe, but we are just privileged to be a small part of it.

“It is a big challenge for the horse to drop back down in trip. That’s why we put the blinkers on him as he didn’t have much time to learn how to race back at a mile, so that helped him.”

Circus Maximus may have surprised a few by dropping in trip, but he is bred to excel over a mile at Ascot, his dam Duntle having won both the Sandringham Handicap and the Duke of Cambridge over the straight mile here in the colours of the Niarchos family.

Full of praise

Ryan Moore said: “When Too Darn Hot got to me, he did not go by me, and I knew this horse would keep going. Fair play to Aidan because he phoned me up on Monday morning to speak about putting him in the race and I said, ‘when you supplement them, they have to win!’ Aidan knew this horse had a bit of talent and he ran a good race in the Derby, but he didn’t stay.”

King Of Comedy is a horse with huge potential, but he has shown temperament as well as talent to date, so it was encouraging to see him take the preliminaries so well, and he threw down a determined challenge, but had to work too hard to get on terms with the winner. Too Darn Hot looked like winning when getting to the winner’s girth, but his effort was short-lived and he faded inside the distance.

John Gosden saw diverging plans for the placed pair. “King Of Comedy ran a blinder; he just needed another 25 yards,” he said..” He is a horse that in the end will go a mile and a quarter, and Adam (Kirby) said it was a pity he had to come round and through them.

“Too Darn Hot has run a very good race. He has come to win his race, got in front, but it is a stiff mile here and it just caught him out. He is a very powerfully built horse and Frankie said he feels like a Jersey horse, and that is what he is. He needs seven furlongs or an easy mile. The Sussex Stakes will be next for him.”

Irish 2000 Guineas winner Phoenix Of Spain finished sixth and was reported to be “sore” the next day. Connections plan to give him a couple of months off.