Yibir runner-up in G2 Jockey Club Stakes

Yibir found a small field and the unique demands of Newmarket’s Rowley Mile compromised his chances as he finished second in the G2 Jockey Club Stakes on Friday, 29 April.

Last season’s G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner raced freely in a close fourth of the five runners for the majority of the 12-furlong contest before moving up to third as the pace quickened approaching the three-furlong pole.

Yibir tried to close on Living Legend and Outbox but the Charlie Appleby-trained four-year-old never looked comfortable on the course and wandered around entering the final furlong.

The Dubawi homebred made late inroads under William Buick to collar Outbox in the closing strides, going down by a length and three-quarters to Living Legend.

Charlie Appleby said: “Yibir is one of those characters and the race was never quite run to suit. He is one of those horses where they go a gallop and everything comes back at him - when he is getting into a battle half a mile out, it’s not for him. He is a big horse and you could see him switch his lead in the dip.

“We came here to get a run into him before heading back out to America for the G1 Man o’War Stakes at Belmont in a couple of weeks, and that remains the plan.”