Kevin Ryan to head straight to Royal Ascot with Group 1 stars Hello Youmzain and Glass Slippers

SPRINT KING Kevin Ryan will head straight to Royal Ascot with his stable stars.

Hello Youmzain and Glass Slippers have been left with a lack of suitable prep races after the early part of the season was decimated by the racing shutdown.

Sprint Cup hero Hello Youmzain would likely have warmed up for the Diamond Jubilee in the Duke Of York Stakes, while the Temple Stakes was on the agenda for King’s Stand-bound Glass Slippers.

The Palace House Stakes was the only Group contest for older sprinters saved in the BHA’s racing resumption plan.

And with that race likely to be staged on the weekend of 30 May, Ryan isn’t considering running either of his speedsters under a penalty just over a fortnight before Ascot.

He told Sun Racing: “They’re in a pretty difficult situation with deciding which of the pattern races to save.

“But if Ascot goes ahead next month my sprinters will be going there without a prep run.

“Glass Slippers and Hello Youmzain have both got Group 1 penalties so it would be a big ask to run them in the Palace House under a penalty and then run them at Ascot a couple of weeks later.

“A lot of trainers have the facilities now where you can get horses fit at home, and luckily we are in that position.”

Hello Youmzain, who is the 7-1 antepost favourite for the Diamond Jubilee with Ladbrokes, will head off to stud at the end of the season.

And Ryan is confident he can enhance his CV before he starts his new career.

He continued: “Hello Youmzain has done great, he has got bigger and stronger again and he was already a powerful horse.

“Ascot was always the plan with him, with or without a prep, though he would likely have run in the Duke Of York under normal circumstances.

“We will have him in both (the Diamond Jubilee and King’s Stand) but the Jubilee has always been the plan.

“He will go to stud at the end of this year. He will stand at Haras d’Etreham in France and shuttle to Cambridge Stud in New Zealand, but it’s great to get an extra year with a horse of his quality.”

North Yorkshire-based Ryan was similarly upbeat about Glass Slippers.

The filly capped a rapid rise through the sprinting ranks with an impressive win in the Abbaye on Arc day and is tops 12-1 with Betfair and Paddy Power for the King’s Stand.

Ryan said: “She looks stronger again this year, she was a little bit raw last year. The second half of last season she improved dramatically with each run and she kept getting quicker.

“And I’d say she has got quicker again over the winter, she is in great form. She is so easy to train, nothing phases her and she is so relaxed, so she is a joy to be around.

“We always knew she was good but she is still on an upward curve.

“We are ready to go as soon as racing goes ahead. We’ve got a lovely team of horses this year and a nice cross-section of horses at that.

“We’ve got some very good sprinters, some nice milers and three-year-old’s and the two-year-old’s are coming along nicely, so we are in a lovely position.”