Keane sticks with Legacy Link in Ribblesdale Owners Juddmonte appear to have a stranglehold on the Ribblesdale Stakes, but the decision to run both Legacy Link and Gilded Prize left retained jockey Colin Keane with a tricky choice. John and Thady Gosden’s Legacy Link was not expected to turn up at Royal Ascot having performed with such distinction when finding only the hugely impressive Thundering On too good in the Betfred Oaks at Epsom. But the Musidora winner reportedly bounced out of the Classic so well she now finds herself as Keane’s pick as she turns out for this Group Two assignment just 13 days later. “It is a bit of an unconventional route all right, but I think both John and Thady feel she came out of Epsom exceptionally well and they said to me on Tuesday there was no reason for her not to run as she was so well,” said Juddmonte’s European racing manager Barry Mahon. “We’re back on quicker ground, which shouldn’t be a problem, and it will be interesting to see what happens.” Gilded Prize had been building up a big reputation in France after winning her first three races for big-time trainer Francis-Henri Graffard. The wheels fell off slightly when she finished fifth of six runners in the Prix Saint-Alary on her latest start, but Mahon feels she is capable of making her presence felt back on a quicker surface, with Oisin Murphy coming in for the ride. Mahon added: “I think the step up to a mile and a half is going to bring out more improvement in Gilded Prize and I know it was a tough choice for Colin. “The French filly is a high-class filly. Things went wrong the last day and we don’t really know why, but we know it wasn’t her running and we feel she’ll give a good account of herself on Thursday. “Colin had the choice and I suppose based on their last runs it was hard to go away from Legacy Link in fairness. I probably would have done the same thing, but that said he’d be fully expecting the other filly to be bang there too.” Behind the Juddmonte pair in the betting is the William Haggas-trained Earth Shot. She impressed at Newmarket first time out this season and was then touched off by Inis Mor in a Listed race at Goodwood. Subsequently one of the many bought by Wathnan Racing in the lead up to the Royal meeting, her form was boosted when Inis Mor finished third in the French Oaks on Sunday. “She won really well at the Guineas meeting and then was only just beaten in a Listed race at Goodwood, rallying really well as the furlongs ticked by. She will love stepping up to 12 furlongs at Ascot,” said Wathnan’s racing adviser Richard Brown. Aidan O’Brien has won the Ribblesdale in each of the past three years with Warm Heart, Port Fairy and Garden Of Eden respectively and his only runner this time is the seemingly exposed Composing. A Group Two winner last year, she came up short behind stablemates Precise and True Love in the spring and was last of six in France last time out, but is nevertheless respecting stepping up in trip in first-time blinkers. Golden Orbit runs in the royal colours, one of three in the race for Ralph Beckett along with Lady Roisia and Venetia, while Joseph O’Brien is represented by Johanna Walsh. Paddy Twomey’s Gowran Park maiden winner Dark Lucinda, French raider Warriors Whisper, Legacy Link’s beautifully bred stablemate Brilliant Star and rank outsider Maldives from Kevin Philippart De Foy’s yard complete the line-up.
