By Tom Frary
Aidan O'Brien's phenomenal record at Chester's May Festival speaks for itself and while there was a small bump in the road on Thursday as Changingoftheguard (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) failed to read the script, it is another of the stable's key 4-year-olds who steps forward to take up the mantle on Friday. One of the unfortunate TDN Rising Stars who was denied the opportunity to make an impact in his Classic year, Point Lonsdale (Ire) (Australia {GB}) showed enough when beating the subsequent G2 Mooresbridge S. winner Visualisation (Ire) (No Nay Never) on his comeback in last month's G3 Alleged S. to suggest he has what it takes to belatedly hit the heights much as his full-brother Broome (Ire) has.
While Aidan O'Brien has not enjoyed the same level of success in this G2 IRE-Incentive, It Pays To Buy Irish Huxley S. as in the meeting's other pattern races, the 2021 G2 Futurity S. scorer and G1 Vincent O'Brien National S. runner-up realistically only has Shadwell's progressive and still-unexposed Mujtaba (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) to challenge him in this 10-furlong test. From the William Haggas stable successful in Thursday's Ormonde, Mujtaba finally came good on early promise with a seven-length win in a Newbury handicap on heavy ground in October. “He's won at Chester before, but he's also run poorly at Chester before, so we will see how we go,” his trainer said.
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