/ Editor / 18 June 2007 / Leave a Comment

The Australians provide a strong challenge in the King Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot (15:05), but it could be the Irish-bred Enticing who can keep the Group Two prize on home shores for trainer Willie Haggas.

Trained as a superstar in the making last season, the three-year-old's only defeats came in the Group One Gimcrack at York, where he ran as well as could have been expected against older sprinters, and at Ascot in the Cornwallis Stakes, where he did not get the clearest of runs but travelled well throughout and finished strongly.

Sent to Bath for his only outing to date this term, the son of Pivotal annihilated a useful field by five lengths, shattering the course record on lightening fast ground.

Had the ground remained as quick, he may have started a much shorter price. But given his proven ability on good ground, he may still have enough speed to become the third three-year-old in the past ten years to win the prestigious contest, after Dominica in 2002 and Mitcham in 1999.

There seems little between Miss Andretti and Takeover Target with the slight preference going to the latter who, if reproducing the form he showed to take this race last season, may prove up to the task once again.

It is interesting that the Joe Janiak-trained eight-year-old has a 100 per cent record over this trip and his recent defeats have come over both six and seven furlongs. Another plus in his favour is his proven form after travelling, having won Group events here and in Japan.

There is little to argue about Miss Andretti's form, with the mare having landed three Group One contests on good ground on her latest outings. The main concern for her supporters is the amount of runners here considering her best displays have come in smaller fields. This could turn into a rough race and there will be few concessions granted to the Australian jockeys by the home-based riders.

Dandy Man continues to be a frustrating sort for connections and punters alike, having been sent off favourite for all his races since scoring at Newmarket early last season. His return of just two Listed race successes in that time, suggests he may once again be found wanting at this level.

The consistent Tax Free will have his supporters, especially in the place market, given his fine overall record and at just five-year-old there could still be improvement to come. Although well beaten in this contest last season, he comes here in useful form having already notched up three wins this terms.

Those who like to trade in the place market may well like the overall credentials of Green Manalishi, who has shown an improvement of late since joining Kevin Ryan's stable. Two solid runs this season at Newbury and Epsom give him every chance of making the frame and he could provide some value to traders who like to play at big odds.

Art to master his rivals

Dutch Art looks to have plenty in his favour to overturn the 2000 Guineas form with Cockney Rebel and looks the value call in the Group One three-year-old feature of Day One of Royal Ascot (15:45).

The son of Medicean was a consistently better performer than Cockney Rebel as a two-year-old and appeared only to be beaten by his draw in the first colt's Classic, with Peter Chapple-Hyam's charge 'winning' his race on the far side.

It should be a fascinating dual between the pair, especially as both will be finishing fast and late. It could be tactics that play a huge part in this contest and it is possible the reliable Jimmy Fortune may have the call over Olivier Peslier on the Geoff Huffer-trained colt.

Excellent Art would be coming into this race at much shorter odds if he had secured a victory on his only start this term, at Longchamp in the French 2000 Guineas. The hard luck story of that race, he finished well when getting into the clear and would have arguably won given a clearer passage.

That defeat means traders may get a little bit of value about the colt, who won three times in England last season on various ground conditions and hails from a stable with an excellent record in the this race (three wins in the past ten years). It is possible he could become the gamble of the race and those taking an early price may end up with the best value.

The Longchamp win of Astronomer Royal should not be underestimated with the colt improving greatly on what he had previously achieved, but nevertheless Classic form is hard to argue against. The stable won this contest with their second string in 2001 and the manner of his French success, where he was in last position at halfway, was that of a very useful racehorse.

Not many of the others are worthy of a mention given their overall level of form, but the chances of Duke Of Marmalade should not be written off too quickly. Although beaten by Cockney Rebel on both his starts this season, this slower ground could see him finishing closer to that rival here and he may prove popular in the place market should his price get too generous.

George the first

The Queen Anne Stakes is one of the few Group One races to allude Aidan O'Brien and it will be a remarkable training feat for him to saddle stud flop George Washington to success in the mile contest (Ascot 16:20).

The four-year-old was a formidable force last season, winning the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket as well as readily scoring in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes over course and distance in September. A repeat of that latter performance would see him being very hard to beat, while the overall weakness of the field could mean he will not have to be at his best to get the better of his rivals here.

The most interesting of those rivals is James Fanshawe's Cesare. Aside from a below par run on the AW and a close up defeat over an inadequate seven furlongs at Newbury, the six-year-old is unbeaten in his last six starts including an impressive win in the Royal Hunt Cup last season.

A four length success over course and distance earlier this season confirmed his well being and the colt could be best placed, should the likely favourite fail to run his race.

Red Evie did not have to improve too much on what she achieved last season to win a substandard Lockinge Stakes at Newbury last month. While continually improving on her own high standard, she will need to put up a significantly better performance to get truly competitive here and there may be some brave traders willing to take Michael Bell's charge on across all the markets.

Ramonti, a shade unlucky behind Red Evie in the Lockinge, boasts a truly remarkable record of only once finishing out of the first three places on his 14 racecourse appearances. Formerly trained in Italy, the five-year-old looks set to lead from the off, and as all in-play traders know, there is no better jockey to have on a front runner than Frankie Dettori.

Jeremy should not be discounted given he is the least exposed of these runners over this trip. A win in a Group Two Sandown contest in April prompted Sir Michael Stoute to give the Danehill Dancer colt a Group One entry in the Lockinge, but the colt disappointed slightly. If able to put that run behind him then he could be a horse to provide a genuine surprise, given that his Sandown win was mightily impressive for a horse making his debut over that distance.