Inisherin coming to the boil for Royal Ascot run

Kevin Ryan is relishing a return to Royal Ascot with crack sprinter Inisherin, after he served a reminder of his star quality at York earlier this month.

The son of Shamardal defied a 249-day absence when showing plenty of heart to deny Andrew Balding’s Flora Of Bermuda in the 1895 Duke of York Stakes, but having admitted the four-year-old headed to the Knavesmire “undercooked”, his handler is expecting a sharper model to head to the Royal meeting.

“He’s come out of York brilliantly. He went there undercooked for one reason or another, but his class helped him get away with it,” said Ryan.

“He’s going to improve an awful lot for York and he’s actually sort of woken up a lot for it and being to the races and getting competitive again.”

Inisherin delivered what his trainer termed an “electric” performance to scoop the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot last season and he is as short as 4-1 for a second successive win at the meeting in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, a race Ryan landed in 2020 with Hello Youmzain.

The handler added: “Ascot will be his next run and we can go there under not as much pressure training-wise with the first run out of the way.

“His performance there in the Commonwealth Cup was electric and if we can get him there in the same shape, I can’t see why he wouldn’t run a big race again.”