Although Joseph O'Brien is hoping for the best from his two-year-old colt named Cowardofthecounty, who is headed for Royal Ascot, he is patient in the hopes that the colt will be at peak performance by the end of the season.
After his maiden victory at the Curragh, the Owning Hill handler resisted the urge to give the quick juvenile another chance. He will now go to the Coventry Stakes.
The highly regarded Whistlejacket was defeated by the son of Kodi Bear that day, and Whistlejacket's victory in a Listed race the following time around greatly boosted the form.
“Cowardofthecounty is going to go straight to the Coventry,” said O’Brien. “That was the plan after his debut as he’s a big horse and we wanted to give him some time after. We gave him a little break, he’ll then come back and go straight to Ascot. He was my second colt to run so you don’t know (how good they are) but when the horse (Midnight Strike) won the first race we knew as they’d both been working nicely and we thought he was a smart colt as well. I didn’t expect him to win like he did and the second horse (Whistlejacket) now looks very good as well. The second may be a Norfolk horse rather than a Coventry horse but he looks very good and our lad was really strong on the sectionals. They were a long way clear of the third. Just watching the race you could see he ran right through the line so I’d say he put a lot into it so we wanted to give him time to recover. It’s so early in the season, we want him running a career-best in September so to keep going to the well now makes no sense. We’ll play the long game. Ascot is so early, even for a two-year-old, but it’s so important. That’s where the world is watching so that is where we have to compete.”