Richard Hannon’s Barney Roy set for QIPCO Champion Stakes test at Ascot racecourse on Saturday
Hannon's three-year-old returns to the track where he won his first Group 1 contest - The St James's Palace Stakes
BARNEY ROY lives like a champion – on Saturday he will try to become one.
The luxurious double box at Richard Hannon’s Wiltshire stables, complete with heat lamps, is where the St James’s Palace Stakes hero calls home.
It’s the same stable that used to house Hannon greats Paco Boy, Canford Cliffs and Toronado.
In Ascot’s Qipco Champion Stakes Barney Roy, owned by Godolphin, will attempt to join that trio as a multiple Group 1 winner.
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Hannon said: “He’s in the honeymoon suite with the mini bar and Sky tv.
“If he does win the Champion Stakes he’ll be coming home and sleeping in my house.
“I would very much like him to stay in training, I just hope Sheikh Mohammed feels the same way.”
Barney Roy, a 4-1 shot, is likely to lock horns with old rival Ulysses on Saturday.
Just a nose separated the pair in the Coral-Eclipse. He again had a rear view of Sir Michael Stoute’s ace when third in the Juddmonte International at York.
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Hannon said: “Barney Roy and Churchill took each other on maybe three furlongs down at York. It very much played into the hands of Ulysses. I bet he couldn’t believe his luck to see us scrapping it out.
“Other than that our form is closely tied in with Ulysses, there shouldn’t be much between them.
“We certainly won’t be setting it up for him this time.”
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