Star Witness will back-up for another showing at Royal Ascot after a second place on opening day of the prestigious British event.
The Danny O’Brien-trained four-year-old had been 6-1 favourite going in to Tuesday’s King’s Stand Stakes but after a rough start missed out by half a length to English sprinter Prohibit.
“It wasn’t our plan to be so far back in the race,” said O’Brien after Tuesday’s feature.
Going into the race the Flemington trainer had hoped for a strong finish from Star Witness and under the guidance of Steven Arnold, the sprinter responded well.
But O’Brien admitted that overall, it was a disappointing performance.
“He was a bit messy, ugly out of the gates and then they really poured on early pace in the race,” O’Brien said of the favourite’s start in the 1000 metre fixture.
“More than anything, he couldn’t keep up early.”
O’Brien said he planned for Star Witness to run in Saturday’s Group One Golden Jubilee Stakes over 1200 metres.
“It’s disappointing,” O’Brien said of Tuesday’s result, “but it was obviously a great run and we’ll be back again on Saturday.”
The Jubilee field will include another Australian combination, the Peter Moody-trained Hinchinbrook.
Star Witness is bound for Widden Stud in the NSW Hunter Valley this spring.
Strong results from Ascot would boost his fees and leading up to Tuesday’s race Widden’s principal Antony Thompson told Fairfax there had been interest in the sprinter from the owners of former King’s Stand winner, Miss Andretti.
AAP
