Kinsale King team keen on Star rematch

Carl O’Callaghan is ready to let stable star Kinsale King lock horns with Starspangledbanner for a second time in the Darley July Cup at Newmarket.

O’Callaghan, who was born in County Clare, offers a real life rags-to-riches story.

Having ended up homeless on the streets of New York in the early 1990s, he set up training in California last year and trained Kinsale King to win the Golden Shaheen at Meydan in March.

The gelding, who thrives on a diet of Guinness and eggs, put up another sterling effort to finish third in the Golden Jubilee at Royal Ascot last week and O’Callaghan is expecting further improvement.

“He came out of Ascot really good. I scoped him this morning and took a blood test and everything seems good,” said O’Callaghan.

“We went over him with a fine-tooth comb to check there was nothing wrong with him and that’s why we opted to stay and give it a shot at Newmarket in the July Cup.

“It was just a fantastic day at Ascot. We’re small people of the game and the horse ran his heart out.

“It was his first run since Dubai. Starspangledbanner is a really good horse and I think we gave him a run for his money.

“I think our horse will improve. I’ve never run him in two races so close together but he was bouncing and kicking the next morning and real happy with himself.

“He’ll stay here in Newmarket now and he’ll go out to the track and work on Wednesday or Thursday.

“I’ll head home then for three or four days and come back the following Monday, but we’ll leave plenty of Guinness behind for him, there’s no fear of that!

“We look forward to taking on Starspangledbanner again. As I said, he is a good horse, but that’s horse racing and that’s what it’s all about.

“I would presume Kieren Fallon will ride him again.”