Aidan O'Brien Royal Ascot blow as 'very special' horse ruled out of meeting
Aidan O'Brien has been dealt a blow ahead of Royal Ascot with news that Albert Einstein, a big fancy for the Coventry Stakes, will miss the meeting.
The trainer has revealed that the promising youngster will be out of action due to a sprained joint.
The colt, sired by Wootton Bassett, made a winning start at Naas and followed up with an impressive victory in the Marble Hill Stakes at the Curragh recently, with O'Brien giving him a glowing review afterwards,
"We always thought he was very special," he told Racing TV. "He's probably as fast a horse as we have ever seen work. He won lovely the first day. Wayne (Lordan) gave him a beautiful ride but he lit up a lot, even though he wasn't asked much, so we were worried today with the wind and how quick he was whether Ryan would be able to get a lead on him.
"He sat tight as long as he could, pulled him out and he said he just took a minute to engage because he hadn't been asked to work much off the bridle. Then he took off."
Meanwhile, jockey Ryan Moore described the two-year-old as "very exciting and very fast" after the race.
Breaking the bad news about Royal Ascot, Coolmore's Twitter feed quoted O'Brien as saying: "Group Three Marble Hill Stakes winner Albert Einstein unfortunately will not run at Royal Ascot due to a sprained joint. He will have an easy three weeks."
It comes less than a week after star stayer Kyprios was retired "due to an aggravation of an old ringbone lesion".
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