2000 Guineas runner-up Master Of The Seas ruled out of Royal Ascot

Master Of The Seas has been ruled out of Royal Ascot after suffering a setback in training.

Charlie Appleby’s charge was beaten just a short head by Poetic Flare in the 2000 Guineas at the start of May, having lifted the Craven Stakes on his prep run for the Classic in April.

The Dubawi colt had been as short as 4-1 for the St James’s Palace Stakes at the Royal meeting on June 15, but he is now set for a short spell on the sidelines.

Godolphin tweeted: “2000 Guineas runner up Master Of The Seas unfortunately had a setback after training on Saturday and will now be on the easy list for two to four weeks, meaning he will miss Royal Ascot.”

The Guineas form suffered an early jolt at the weekend when Poetic Flare could fnish only sixth in the French 2000 Guineas.

Meanwhile, Aidan O’Brien is anticipating plenty of improvement from High Definition following his seasonal bow at York last week.

The Cazoo Derby entry finished third in the Dante after a planned outing in the Lingfield Derby Trial was scuppered by an unsatisfactory blood test.

High Definition, who won each of his two juvenile starts, came from off the pace on the Knavesmire, and O’Brien felt the way the race unfolded was possibly not ideal for his charge.

He said: “High Definition is in good form. He hasn’t done much since York.

“I was very happy. Four days before he wasn’t going to run and he’ll come forward plenty. We always give them 10 days to two weeks to get back into full work and then see where they are. Ryan (Moore) was very happy with him.

“The pace died a bit in the middle and it might have suited if it had stayed strong.”

High Definition is a general 9-2 shot for the Derby at Epsom on June 5, with stablemate Bolshoi Ballet the 15-8 favourite.

Sir Mark Todd has until midday on Tuesday to decide whether or not to target the Derby with his promising colt Tasman Bay.

The three-year-old was a winner on his seasonal debut when taking a novice race at Newcastle, after which he finished third in a high-quality Newbury contest won by subsequent Dante winner Hurricane Lane.

Tasman Bay’s next run was the Listed Betway Fairway Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday, where he was beaten a length and a quarter by Ed Dunlop’s John Leeper.

The latter horse is a 7-1 chance for the Derby after the performance and Hurricane Lane is valued as a 6-1 shot – but Todd is still undecided as to whether keep his colt in the mix for the permier Classic.

“I’m having a conversation with the owner,” the trainer said. “We have to make up our minds on whether we’re going to press on with the Derby by Tuesday lunchtime.

“At this stage the Derby is quite unlikely, I would say, after that I guess we would look at going to Ascot for the King Edward, the mile-and-a-half Group Two.

“We’ve got to decide whether we go for the Derby or not first, and then we’ll decide where else we’ll go from then.”

Though the form from Tasman Bay’s three runs this season has looked increasingly strong as time has passed, with Newbury fourth River Alwen also going on to win, Todd is still hopeful that there will be further improvement from the three-year-old when he contests a race run with more early speed.

“River Alwen, who was fourth that day, he’s won since, so the form around him (Tasman Bay) is very good,” said Todd. “John Leeper started favourite in our next race and he won like a good horse, too. Unfortunately for us, all three runs have been in races where there’s been no pace.

“We certainly didn’t want to have to make the pace the other day and it was a bit of a muddling race, but that’s how it goes sometimes.

“He’s come through the run on Saturday well, he’s just spent the day in the field yesterday and he seems very well.”