Kevin Ryan doesn't expect the sharper six furlongs at Newmarket on Saturday to pose any problems for My Pension Expert July Cup favourite Inisherin.
Connections decided to go down the sprinting route with the son of Shamardal after he finished sixth in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas on only his third career start and he rewarded them with brilliant victories in the Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock and Royal Ascot's Commonwealth Cup.
That Group One-winning performance catapulted him to the head of the market for the weekend feature where he meets older horses for the first time and the trainer told Tuesday's Nick Luck Daily Podcast: “He’s been great, came out of Ascot really well and had an easy week afterwards. He worked on Saturday and worked nicely and seems really well in himself and we’re really happy with him."
As for the different track at Newmarket he added: “I can’t see that being a problem, he travels strongly and he’s run twice on the other course at Newmarket, finishing second in his maiden and then ran in the Guineas. He handled it very well, was very balanced going down in The Dip and there are similarities to both courses. It’s a strong pull up to the line on the July Course and I have no fears about that.”
Ryan expects connections to keep to the shorter distances with the brilliant colt - for now.
“The fact is he would stay further but has that speed so we have no concerns sprinting with him but if you wanted to go further with him you could. He’s a very relaxed horse, he doesn’t need to sit up there, if you dropped him in behind horses he’d go to sleep for you," he added.
“He has that natural speed and I just felt after the Guineas to go down this route for the time being. We tried it at Haydock and it worked and I thought he was better again at Ascot and I’m sure now we’re training him that way he seems to be getting quicker.
“In the future who knows? But while he’s doing this job and doing it well, I suppose you stick to that. Until he tells us any different I think this is the route we’ll go down, for this year anyway."
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