There’s a new occupant in the role that the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes honours but its status as one of Royal Ascot’s most coveted prizes is unchanged, a factor jockey Richard Kingscote will probably appreciate more than most on Wednesday.
The Englishman, winner of last year’s Epsom Derby on Desert Crown, goes into the day two feature with plenty to prove.
He teams up with Bay Bridge in a fascinating renewal of a race that once again showcases some of the best of Europe’s older horses, with all the accompanying stallion-making prestige involved in that.
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Aidan O’Brien’s Luxembourg already has a pair of them on home turf in Ireland having won last season’s Champion Stakes at Leopardstown and followed up with a Tattersalls Gold Cup victory last month.
Nevertheless, on the back of missing much of his three-year-old campaign through injury, there remains a sense of unfinished business about the Irish hope that success here will finally put to bed.
To underline the quality of the race, just one of the six starters, the US outsider Classic Causeway, has an official rating below a heady 120 mark.
It makes for flat competition of the highest quality, an environment where split-second decisions in the saddle can produce outcomes worth millions either way.
Getting those calls right is what separates the great from the good, a point underlined by Luxembourg’s Tattersalls success, when Ryan Moore’s choice to dominate from the front paid off in spades.
Kingscote on board Bay Bridge tailed his rival on that occasion and couldn’t get a gap at a crucial point.
At the line there was just half a length in it and the Bay Bridge camp was left with a frustrating sense of what if.
It hasn’t been the only time this season that a high-profile Kingscote ride has yielded such frustration.
Bay Bridge’s stable companion Passenger got repeatedly blocked in last month’s Dante and if his subsequent Derby run suggested he’d flattered to deceive at York it still didn’t help Kingscote’s big-race reputation.
It may have contributed to Kingscote being jocked-off Desert Crown in favour of Frankie Dettori in advance of Royal Ascot, only for the colt to be ruled out through injury.
It’s a major contrast to last season when his big-race run also included guiding Bay Bridge to Champion Stakes success in October.
In Moore’s regular absences, Kingscote continues to be Michael Stoute’s go to rider and success now would be a major confidence boost for the 36-year-old.
As of now, it represents both an opportunity and a test for the rider on a horse whose Curragh effort suggested he should be fine on quick going, and on his third start of the campaign Bay Bridge ought now to be hard fit.
Luxembourg is unlikely to get another solo from the front, while despite their top-class ratings neither My Prospero or Mostahadaf has secured a Group One pot.
Victory for either Stoute or O’Brien will see them equal the late Henry Cecil’s record five wins in the race.
Wednesday’s sole Group One contest has the smallest field of the day in contrast to the massive field of 30 declared for the Royal Hunt Cup.
It includes the prolific winner Dunum who represents Co Down based Italian trainer Natalia Lupini. Just three horses trained in Ireland have won the prestigious handicap since 1960.
Trainer Ralph Beckett has a pair of Hunt Cup hopefuls with resonant names. Moore’s presence on Sonny Liston is sure to attract attention although it could be last year’s Britannia third, Jimi Hendrix, that lands a knock-out blow at a big price.
Dettori is on the royal runner Reach For The Moon in the Hunt Cup but the Italian star looks to hold better claims elsewhere on the card.
Although Joseph O’Brien has three in the Queens Vase, and Ballydoyle relies on Peking Opera, Dettori’s mount Gregory looks the one to beat.
Moore is on Joseph O’Brien’s Jumbly in the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes where Dettori’s mount Prosperous Voyage has a lofty 112 rating that’s hard to argue with.
