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Aidan O’Brien will be hoping sprinter Aesop’s Fables can break through at Group 1 level this season after returning to form in the Listed Sole Power Sprint Stakes at Naas.
Placed in the Prix de l'Abbaye and the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint as a three-year-old, Aesop's Fables was disappointing on seasonal reappearance in the Listed Woodland Stakes over the same course and distance in late April.
Jockey Ryan Moore held up the colt in the midfield and asked him to make progress with a furlong to run, racing up the centre of the track. He finished the race off well, beating Twilight Jet by a neck at the line.
"He came really good last year and was only just beaten in an Abbaye and a Breeders' Cup Sprint," said O'Brien.
"He usually takes a few runs to get right. We ran him the last day in blinkers on soft ground and he ran very keen and just didn't finish out, so we left them off him today.
"We're delighted with him. The ground is beautiful here and he's a big, powerful, fast horse. He's hardy and a real sprinter. We are thinking of the five-furlong race at Ascot."
Paddy Power have shortened Aesop's Fables from 20/1 to 16/1 for the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot.