O'Brien seeking double Ascot hat-trick

MASTERCRAFTSMAN WILL attempt to follow in the footsteps of some elite Ballydoyle names when he lines up for Tuesday’s St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Last year Henrythenavigator added Royal Ascot’s opening day feature to a previous win in the Irish 2,000 Guineas.

Both Rock Of Gibraltar (2002) and Black Minnaloushe (2001) also managed that double and Mastercraftsman will start favourite to do the same next week. A total of 13 entries remain in the race after yesterday’s declaration stage with four other Aidan O’Brien-trained colts joining Mastercraftsman as well as Jim Bolger’s Dewhurst Stakes winner Intense Focus.

“Mastercraftsman has come out of the Guineas very well,” O’Brien confirmed before dismissing concerns about fast ground at next week’s festival. “He won two Group One’s as a two-year-old and I believe his win over six furlongs on good to firm ground was his most impressive performance. Then he won over seven furlongs on heavy,” he said.

“He seems to be one of those unusual horses that can act on both,” O’Brien added. “Not many that can win on fast can also win on heavy but he can.”

Ballydoyle’s other entries for the St James’s Palace are the French Derby third Westphalia, Born To Be King, Malibu Bay and Set Sail. The champion trainer is pursuing a second hat-trick of wins in the mile Group One. The trio of Giants Causeway, Black Minnaloushe and Rock Of Gibraltar completed three in a row between 2002 and 2002. O’Brien also landed the race in 2007, when Excellent Art led home a Ballydoyle 1-2-3 on the day, before Henrythenavigator’s success last season.

Meanwhile, Cashmans bookmakers have made Sea The Stars a 4 to 6 favourite in match betting with Fame And Glory (11 to 10) if they clash in the Irish Derby later this month.

“They could run the Epsom Derby a hundred times and get the same result each and every time no matter what way the race panned out,” a spokesman said yesterday.

“In fact Sea The Stars would be favourite in match betting with any three-year-old on the plant at distances from seven furlongs to a mile and a half.”