Ryan baffled by East's display in 1,000 Guineas

Kevin Ryan is at a loss to explain East’s disappointing display in the Irish 1,000 Guineas at the Curragh on Sunday.

Having rounded off her juvenile campaign by finishing second at the Breeders’ Cup, the daughter of Frankel made a highly promising return to action when third in the French 1000 Guineas — the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches — at ParisLongchamp earlier this month.

She was well fancied when she turned out for the Irish equivalent just a fortnight later, but never threatened to land a telling blow and eventually trailed home last of 10 runners.

Ryan said: “She was beaten in the first two furlongs, not the last two furlongs. We’re getting her checked out.

“There’s no point speculating. We’ll see how she is as the week progresses.”

Ryan has confirmed the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot as the next port of call for his impressive Haydock scorer Hello Youmzain.

Calyx was priced as though defeat was out of the question in Saturday’s Group Two Sandy Lane Stakes, but Hello Youmzain had not read the script, inflicting a first career defeat on John Gosden’s 2-13 favourite.

While most regarded the result as one of the shocks of the season so far, Ryan was not at all surprised to see his charge come out on top.

The Kodiac colt had rounded off his juvenile campaign with a Group Two victory in France and finished fourth when seemingly failing to get home over seven furlongs on his seasonal reappearance in last month’s Greenham Stakes at Newbury.

Ryan said: “He’s come out of the race fine and that (Commonwealth Cup) is the plan.

“I don’t know why it was such a surprise. There was only 2lb between them on ratings — those are the facts.

“He (Hello Youmzain) is a top-class horse. He was a top-class two-year-old last season — you don’t go and win a Group Two as easy as he did if you’re not top-class.”