Yibir preps for Man o' War in Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket

Yibir, the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner, will be heavily favored to win the Group 2 Jockey Club Stakes over 1 1/2 miles on Friday at Newmarket in England.

The Jockey Club apparently is a stepping-stone race for Yibir, who was a fast-closing second in the Group 1 Sheema Classic on March 26 at Meydan and whose connections have said since that time they’re aiming him for the $700,000, Grade 1 Man o’ War Stakes on May 14 at Belmont. Yibir won the Jockey Club Derby Invitational Stakes last Sept. 18 at Belmont in advance of his BC Turf victory.

Godolphin owns Yibir and Charlie Appleby trains him. Those connections have two other 4-year-olds, Adayar and Hurricane Lane, that appear to better suit European 10- or 12-furlong races than does Yibir. Because Yibir has done his best work on flat, turning tracks, he was aimed toward the Sheema Classic and will have the BC Turf and, possibly, travel to Japan and Hong Kong as late-2022 objectives.

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Yibir faces just five foes in the Jockey Club Stakes and as of Wednesday was priced at odds as low as 1-2 by English bookmakers. Because he’s a Grade 1 winner, Yibir concedes three pounds to his rivals. Post time for the race on the first day of the Guineas meeting at Newmarket is 10:35 a.m. Eastern.