Merchant Navy finely poised for Ascot

At the curragh last weekend Aidan O’Brien added some real live candidates to his already considerable Royal Ascot portfolio later this month, none more so than the Australian horse, Merchant Navy.

If there has been one thing missing during O’Brien’s tenure at Ballydoyle it is the lack of top-class sprinters. Essentially, there have been very few of them.

Merchant Navy, a son of Fastnet Rock, is a fascinating addition to Ballydoyle, although apparently the plan is for him to run at the Royal meeting and to then shuffle back to his native country.