Adayar and Adam Kirby on the way to winning the 2021 Epsom Derby. (Pic: Courtesy of Jockey Club Racecourses).

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ADAYAR pleased Charlie Appleby in a workout at Newmarket’s July Course ahead of his bid to secure a third top-level success in the Group 1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot next Wednesday.

A dual Group 1 winner as a three-year-old – winning the Epsom Derby and King George & Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 2021 – Adayar raced only twice last season due to minor setbacks that kept him off the track until September 2022 where he returned with a victory in a Class 2 contest at Doncaster. He followed up with a close second to Bay Bridge in the £1.3 million Champion Stakes on QIPCO British Champions Day.

Connections opted to keep the son of Frankel in training and were rewarded with an impressive comeback win in the Group 3 bet365 Gordon Richards Stakes at Newmarket on 1000 Guineas day. There he was kept in touch with the leaders by William Buick before taking it up two furlongs from the finish and kept on well to win comfortably.

Buick will be aboard again in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes where he is 2-1 joint favourite with Luxembourg and worked well under this rider on the July Course.

“It was a nice, pleasing piece of work,” Appleby said. “He is there now and we didn’t want to be doing anything too strong with him.

“You could see his enthusiasm in dragging William to his lead horse there and he went through the line well and had his ears pricked. I think it is a great experience for these horses and we are lucky to be able to do it.

“A week out we just want them to come up and enjoy themselves.

“He goes into the Prince of Wales’s as near-favourite or joint-favourite and deservedly so on what we saw at the Guineas meeting. He has come forward for that first run,” Appleby said to At The Races.

“Hopefully we can get our rewards, more so for him, for staying in training.”

“Any of these Group 1 races are hard to win. If you think you are worried about just (Prince Of Wales’s Stakes contenders) Luxembourg or Bay Bridge then more fool you. Whoever turns up you respect them all, but I’m just delighted with how our horse is going into the race.”

Read ‘Horse Talk with Simon Jackson’ for top horse racing tips and the latest news.