Royal Ascot’s St James’s Palace Stakes is shaping up into a vintage clash, although one star name likely to miss the mile contest is Jonquil.
Runner-up to Henri Matisse in the French 2,000 Guineas, the Juddmonte owned colt is likely to step down to six furlongs for the Commonwealth Cup at the prestigious meeting later this month.
Juddmonte’s Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Field Of Gold is a warm favourite for the St James’s Palace following his impressive Curragh victory.
That came on the back of an unlucky defeat to Ruling Court at Newmarket and the latter’s late defection from Saturday’s Derby opens the prospect of a three-way clash of Europe’s three major Guineas winners.
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It leaves Jonquil’s trainer Andrew Balding contemplating a different Royal Ascot route.
“Jonquil is really good since France and obviously we’re hoping for Royal Ascot and he has a number of engagements there,” he said. “I think the most likely at this stage is dropping him back to six for the Commonwealth Cup but it’s all in the mix. I’d hope he has enough speed for that.”
Aidan O’Brien is chasing a record-extending 10th success in the prestigious mile contest for three-year-olds and appears likely to rely on Henri Matisse.
The “Poulains” winner had his stable companion, the subsequent French Derby winner Camille Pissarro, back in third at Longchamp but is rated third best of the Guineas winners by most firms.
In other news, Godolphin’s Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty confirmed his Churchill Downs form with Journalism to land the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga on Saturday.
Journalism had landed the second leg of the US Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, in the interim with Godolphin and trainer Bill Mott opting to skip that Pimlico event to wait for the Belmont. It paid off as Sovereignty proved too strong for his rival in the closing stages.
“We had a repeat of the Derby – the first three finishers in the Derby finished one-two-three here – and the form is holding up. They are three really good horses and I’m glad that Sovereignty was able to come back and put in a race like he did in the Derby.
“If we hadn’t won today, we would have taken a lot of criticism for missing the Preakness, but it turned out good. Sometimes, you make the right decision and a lot of times you make the wrong ones. Today, it really worked out well,” Mott said.
Monday’s domestic action is again over jumps and this time it is an all-steeplechase card at Roscommon.
Navan’s Saturday programme was the sole weekend flat action in Ireland, while Punchestown raced over jumps on both days. The National Hunt focus will continue to Sligo on Tuesday before Limerick on Wednesday hosts a card on the level.
Gordon Elliott’s high-class hurdler Pied Piper has won both his starts over fences to date and goes again in a four-runner novice chase at Roscommon. The mare Zenta gets a sizeable chunk of weight, but it may not be enough.
