The Godolphin homebred son of Dubawi, who is a general 10/1 chance for the opening Classic of the season on May 1, followed up a recent away day at Chelmsford City by taking part in the seven furlong exercise at the Rowley Mile alongside stablemate Well Of Wisdom.
Partnered by now-retired six times champion jockey Kieren Fallon. One Ruler moved stylishly past Well Of Wisdom, who was ridden by Robert Winston, around the two furlong pole before quickly opening up a gap and passing the post comfortably in command.
One Ruler already has one course and distance success to his name having landed last year’s Group 3 Autumn Stakes on his penultimate start and now the Newmarket handler hopes he can add another to his CV by securing him a breakthrough success in the mile Classic.
Appleby said: “I was very pleased with that. He has been to Chelmsford and it was very kind of Newmarket to let us do this. He wasn’t going to go for a trial as he has got enough experience already on his CV and he has justified himself to turn up straight to a Guineas.
“We were very pleased with what we saw at Chelmsford but after discussing with Kieren Fallon, who has ridden him a lot at home, we just felt that we would like to get him on the turf and get a nice spin into him around the time of the Guineas trials.
“We have now got a nice piece into him and that puts us where we need to be. He hasn’t missed a beat all winter and we will now just go through his normal routine until the Guineas. Kieren explained that he handles that dip flawlessly and he already has the experience of being a course and distance winner, so he ticks a lot of boxes.
“We can all bring a horse like this up here to beat an 80 rated horse but Well Of Wisdom is rated 106 and is no mug but he found that quite straightforward. We were not here to see him gallop away by 20 lengths; it was just nice to give him a day out.”
Although One Ruler holds further Group One entries in both the Cazoo Derby at Epsom Downs and the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh the Classic-winning handler believes that he could be seen at his best over shorter than a mile and a half.
He added: “On the back of winning the Autumn Stakes people start talking about the Derby but the first thing we are looking at is the Guineas and that’s the target.
“I don’t think he is a stayer as he has got stronger over the winter. I’m very pleased with the way he has done physically. He was a little bit slow coming to hand but I think we have had a hard winter.
“I couldn’t be happier with what I’ve seen over the last six weeks or so. He has stepped up his work and he has answered every question that we have put to him so far.”
