Quinn planning Group One targets for Liberty Beach

King’s Stand third set for a big season.

John Quinn is looking forward to seeing Liberty Beach contest more Group One sprints between now and the end of the season following her fine effort in defeat in the King’s Stand at Royal Ascot.

Having won four of her six starts as a juvenile, the daughter of Cable Bay made a successful three-year-old debut at Haydock earlier in the month to earn herself a ticket at the showpiece meeting.

While ultimately no match for the brilliant Battaash, Liberty Beach ran with huge credit to finish third – beaten just a short-head to the runner-up spot by Equilateral – leaving her Yorkshire-based trainer understandably proud.

Quinn said: “We were very pleased with how she ran, and she seems to have come home well. We’ll spend a bit of time in the long grass now, and see where we go from here.

“She was entitled to be there, but it was good to see her frank that entitlement, if you see what I mean. She ran a very good race behind a horse who is nearly unbeatable when he’s in that sort of form.”

Whether Liberty Beach will take on Battaash again in the King George Stakes at Glorious Goodwood – a race the Charlie Hills-trained superstar has already won on three occasions – is in some doubt, but they do appear likely to meet in the Nunthorpe at York in August.

“She’s had two fairly quick runs now, so we’ll just see how she is,” Quinn added.

“We’ll look at Goodwood, but Battaash is almost unbeatable there. We ran El Astronaute against him there last year, and he’s very quick – we gave Battaash a lead, but he went by us as if we were stood still.

“Our filly did win the Molecomb at Goodwood last year, so we’ll probably enter and make a decision closer to the time, but I’ll probably find something for her before then anyway. We’ve entered her in a race at the Curragh, so we’ll have a look at that.

“It would be nice to get one or two runs in and then go for the Nunthorpe at York, which is just down the road and would be a bit of a dream come true. Then the dream is we end up in Paris for the Abbaye in October – let’s hope we’re all able to go racing by then.

“That’s the sort of programme we’re looking at, but we’ve got to try to keep her right and happy, so we’ll see how it goes.”

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John Quinn Royal Ascot Festival

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