Balantina on coursefor Ascot return

Breeders’ Cup heroine Balantina remains “on track” to make her reappearance in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot – but has the Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket as a back-up if she is not ready in time.
Trainer Donnacha O’Brien admitted the winner of the Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar last October will not be fully tuned up if she makes it to Berkshire later this month.
But with the lack of an easier Group-race option available the daughter of Ten Sovereigns could use the Ascot event as a stepping stone to the Falmouth at Newmarket on July 10.
“If she gets to the Coronation Stakes she will probably be just ready to have her first run of the year.
She won’t be spot on for it, but there is still a chance we will let her take her chance,” said O’Brien.
“We will know more over the next two weeks when her work steps up but at the moment she is still on track.
“If there was an easier Group race then we might go there but there really isn’t too much around.
The other thing we could do is go for a racecourse gallop and then Newmarket but at the minute she is on track for Ascot.”
O’Brien has firmer plans for Comanche Brave and Havana Ana, with the pair reported to be on course for their Royal Ascot dates in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and Commonwealth Cup, respectively.
Comanche Brave was third in the Jersey Stakes last season and landed the Group Two Greenlands Stakes at the Curragh after finishing six lengths behind sprinting superstar Ka Ying Rising in Hong Kong.
Havana Anna goes for the three-year-old Group One sprint over six furlongs off the back of a reappearance win in the Group Three Lacken Stakes at Naas.
“They have both come out of their last runs well,” said O’Brien.
“Comanche Brave goes straight for the six-furlong race on the Saturday.
He is in good form and we think he goes there with a live chance – the quicker the ground the better for him.
“The filly goes for the Commonwealth Cup and is a very uncomplicated individual but is a fast, hardy filly and again we would go there with a live chance.”