Ascot Gold Cup winner Order Of St George is one of a number of older horses staying in training with Ballydoyle handler Aidan O’Brien for this year’s flat season.
The imposing five-year-old son of Galileo, who finished third in the Prix De L’Arc De Triomphe behind stable-mates Found and Highland Reel, will bid to emulate an O’Brien great of yester-year, Yeats, by becoming a multiple winner of the Ascot Gold Cup.
An impressive winner of the Ascot Gold Cup last year under Ryan Moore, the imposing colt stayed on gamely in the closing stages to register a decisive three-length success in that event.
A progressive horse, Order Of St George has improved with age and despite finishing fourth in the QIPCO British Champions Long Distance Cup on his final outing last season, that race came far too quickly after the Arc and he looks an exciting stayer for this season.
Ballydoyle maestro O’Brien said:
Order Of St George is likely to reappear in the Vintage Crop Stakes at Navan on April 23 and will be campaigned from a mile and a half upwards, with the Ascot Gold Cup again a target.
US Army Ranger, second to Harzand in last year’s Derby at Epsom Downs, disappointed after that performance but will look to get back on track this season now he’s a year older and he could develop into an intriguing colt. O’Brien added:
He’s done well and he might start off in a Group Two over a mile and a quarter back here at Naas.
