With Aidan O'Brien's string sharper than in recent times so far in the early part of the season, Susan Magnier's Washington DC (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) takes to Ascot on Wednesday to take part in the G3 Pavilion S., his first dress rehearsal for the Royal meeting's G1 Commonwealth Cup. Stretched out to seven furlongs for the first time on his seasonal return in Dundalk's Listed Loughbrown S. at the start of the month, last year's Listed Windsor Castle S. winner who was also runner-up to Air Force Blue (War Front) in the G1 Phoenix S. at The Curragh in August is the perfect candidate for these Ascot six-furlong dashes. Coolmore's UK representative Kevin Buckley said, “He has done well over the winter and is in good form after his win at Dundalk. We are coming over here to look for the better ground, as we are not getting that in Ireland at the moment.”
His main rival on paper is Dr Ali Ridha's front-running sensation Gifted Master (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), who is on a roll having won the G3 Autumn S. over a mile at Newmarket in October and that track's £500,000 Tattersalls Millions 2yo Trophy and £100,000 Tattersalls Millions 3-y-o Sprint over seven and six furlongs respectively. He has had the measure of Ballydoyle's Waterloo Bridge (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) on two occasions and also Beacon Rock (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) from the same stable, so Aidan O'Brien will have some idea of what it will take to subdue him. Gifted Master's trainer Hugo Palmer commented, “I think he is a mile horse, but annoyingly for John Gosden with Shalaa not out until later in the season, it rather opens up the three-year-old sprinting division. The owners are very keen to go to Royal Ascot with him. He is in the [June 17] Commonwealth Cup and he will probably get an entry in the [G3] Jersey [at Royal Ascot June 15]. If he wins the Pavilion, we will look at the [May 28 G2] Sandy Lane [S.] at Haydock and if he wins that then we will look at the Commonwealth Cup. If he gets beaten in that we would look to go back up to seven furlongs.”
Shaikh Nader Mohamed Al Khalifa's Listed Doncaster S. winner Dhahmaan (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) is one who is open to improvement, which is also the case for Rick Barnes' C Note (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}). He opened his account in comprehensive fashion from the group-placed yardstick Lil's Joy (Ire) (Lilbourne Lad {Ire}) in a six-furlong conditions event at Leicester staged on heavy ground Apr. 8 and a prominent showing will keep Royal Ascot dreams alive.
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