Aidan O’Brien’s top middle-distance older horse, Japan, took time to hit top Group One gear in 2019 but will be widely expected to hit the ground running in Royal Ascot’s Day Two feature.
The really bred colt takes on half a dozen opponents in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes which all but inevitably in the circumstances is Japan’s first start of the season.
Nevertheless he is likely to be further forward in readiness compared to the early part of his three-year-old campaign when a setback in the spring meant the son of Galileo spent much of the time playing catch-up.
A run in the Dante preceded a fine effort in the Derby when third to his stable companion Anthony Van Dyck.
However, it was this time last year in the King Edward VII Stakes when Japan really started to deliver with a vengeance on his heady home reputation.
He followed up that stylish rout with the Group One win in the Grand Prix de Paris and put up his best ever performance when edging out Crystal Ocean in an epic finish to the Juddmonte International. His only subsequent start was a admirable fourth in the Arc.
It wasn't a bad effort for Headman to ultimately end up beaten less than four lengths by Magical
The prospect of a mouth-watering clash with Enable and Ghaiyyath in next month’s Eclipse could be in store for Japan should he win impressively on Wednesday.
Proposition
His official 122 rating is matched by Addeybb who won twice at the top level in Australia but looks to face a very different proposition here.
The 2017 St James’s Palace winner Barney Roy is another proven Group One horse although the main threat to Japan could come from Headman.
Roger Charlton’s unexposed colt has only tackled Group One level once before and not a lot went right for him.
That was in last year’s Irish Champion Stakes when he was slow to leave the stalls and then found himself racing wide for much of the trip.
Given the circumstances, and his comparative inexperience, it wasn’t a bad effort for Headman to ultimately end up beaten less than four lengths by Magical.
Prior to that Headman had been impressive in winning a pair of Group Two races in France and his profile suggests a horse likely to come to a peak at four.
A proposition like Japan, one of the top middle-distance runners in Europe, represents a stern test of that theory but there may be a touch of value in siding with Headman.
Disappointed
The strength of O’Brien’s three-year-old middle distance team got a knock on Day One with Mogul’s defeat in the King Edward VII Stakes. Despite that reverse Russian Emperor could still be the one to click in the Group Three Hampton Court Stakes.
He disappointed in last week’s Derrinstown Trial when edged out by his stable companion Cormorant and showed signs of inexperience in the closing stages.
It does, however, give Russian Emperor the advantage of having two runs under his belt this year.
He will need them too as Berlin Tango’s Kempton defeat of the King Edward winner Pyledriver reads a lot differently now while the Queen’s First Receiver could be anything judged on his own Kempton victory earlier this month.
Just a week after making their debuts at Navan, Ballydoyle run the two-year-olds Chief Little Hawk and Hyde Park Barracks in the Windsor Castle Stakes.
Chief Little Hawk emerged as a smooth winner then but this will be a very different prospect.
US trainer Wes Ward is always to be feared in Ascot’s juvenile events and his Gulfstream winner Sunshine City will have both Frankie Dettori and first-time blinkers on her side.
