Owen predicting bold show from Ambiente Friendly

James Owen is confident last year’s Derby runner-up will put up a “much improved performance” when he makes his second start for the yard in Friday’s Betfred Jockey Club Stakes.

The four-year-old found only City Of Troy too strong in the premier Classic at Epsom last June, but while he went on to finish third in the Irish Derby, he subsequently lost his way and disappointed in the Juddmonte International at York and the Prix Niel at ParisLongchamp.

Having since moved across after leaving James Fanshawe, the Gleneagles colt was beaten into fourth place on his debut for Owen in last month’s Earl of Sefton Stakes, but the Hamilton Road handler is expecting to see a leaner and meaner version of Ambiente Friendly on his return to the Rowley Mile.

“He did so well last year and has come on a hell of a lot for his first run,” he said on Thursday.

“There’s only four runners and the ground is ideal for him and I think he has a great chance.

“It’s not the easiest track to settle a horse when you are cantering a mile and four (furlongs) to the start, turning round and racing back, so he does have to learn to settle a bit better.

“It wasn’t ideal last time when he pinged the gates, got out in front and the lead horse wasn’t quick enough to lead him. It wouldn’t worry me again though, as I know he’s fit now and if he went out in front he would be fine.”

Owen revealed he has seen a significant improvement in Ambiente Friendly’s work on the gallops since his seasonal reappearance two and a half weeks ago.

He added: “If you watch his last race he went up and over the hill and took some pulling up. His last furlong was good, but he just took a blow as they started to quicken up and they got away from him before he stayed on again. That was a positive I took from it and the way he’s trained since, I couldn’t be happier.

“He doesn’t work like a quick horse and he works like a stayer – he worked the other day and left his lead horse for dead strongly at the end, but before his first run he couldn’t get past his lead horse, that’s how much he’s come on. He has to translate that to the track, but hopefully he puts in a much improved performance.

“The two Derby runs last year are great form, but he needs wins and he needs Listed wins and Group wins. Hopefully he’s a Royal Ascot type or he could be a Coronation Cup horse with his Epsom form, but he’s also a horse we want to travel with and have a little bit of fun with.”

Ambiente Friendly is set to face three rivals on the opening day of the Guineas Festival, with the globetrotting Silver Knott making his first appearance on UK soil in two years off the back of a Group Two win in Dubai in early March.

“We were delighted with Silver Knott’s victory in Dubai and he has returned to Newmarket fit and well,” his trainer Charlie Appleby told the Godolphin website.

“Conditions here should suit and we are hopeful he can be a big player.”

Andrew Balding’s pair of Bellum Justum and Divina Grace complete the line-up.

John and Thady Gosden are responsible for two of the five runners in the Listed Nyetimber Newmarket Stakes, with Kempton scorer Ernst Blofeld joined by Nebras, who suffered a short-priced defeat on his three-year-old debut at Southwell.

John Gosden said: “We’ll be getting Nebras on the grass for the first time (this year) which has been something that has been quite missing and then we’ve also got a horse who won on the all-weather the other day in Ernst Blofeld.

“I want to see Nebras over a trip on grass before we really judge him, I don’t think you can judge him on that run over a mile on the all-weather.”

The Godolphin silks are carried by Appleby’s Alpine Trail, who supplemented a dominant debut win at Wolverhampton with a similarly impressive display on his second start at Yarmouth.

Appleby added: “Alpine Trail has done nothing wrong so far, in his races and his work. Stepping up to this level will potentially give us a steer on where we head in the summer and he goes into this in good shape.”