Gold Cup at Royal Ascot

it´s Ladies´ Day at Royal Ascot and the Gold Cup over 2 1/2 miles at 16.50 CET is the traditional main feature. This has been won for the past 4 years by the magnificient Yeats, certainly the best stayer we have seen so far this century, but he is now retired and his trainer Aidan O´Brien now tries to continue the sequence with Age of Aquarius (Johnny Murtagh). He would have a chance on his best form, but his stable is having a bad run, and he is in any case unproven over the distance. That is also the problem with several of the fancied horses, notably the Newmarket-trained pair Manifest (Henry Cecil/ Tom Queally) and Ask (Sir Michael Stoute/ Ryan Moore). Both stables are in great form, but neither has ever run beyond 15 furlongs, and these extreme distances can often find them out. Ask is at least proven Group One performer and has the highest rating in the field, but the lightly-raced Manifest is much improved and looks safer over this distance; his owner Khalid Abdullah can do no wrong this season. Last time out he won the Yorkshire Cup virtually in a canter from Purple Moon (Luca Cumani/ Kieren Fallon). Cecil has a good record with stayers, but his last win in this race was back in 1987.

Saeed bin Suroor also has a good record here, and his two runners Kite Wood (Frankie Dettori) and Darley Sun (William Buick) must be considered. Kite Wood was runner-up in last year´s St. Leger and has put up several good staying performers, while Darley Sun certainly gets the trip, having won the Cesarewitch last year with the greatest of ease. However that was a handicap and this is much tougher.

Our two fancies are Spanish-trained Bannaby (Delcher Sanchez/ Christophe Soumillon) and French hope Kasbah Bliss (Francois Doumen/ Thierry Thulliez). Bannaby is actually the only distance winner in the field, having won the Prix du Cadran in 2008, while Kasbah Bliss was an unlucky runner-up in the same race last year. In a tricky event they could well outstay the British and Irish runners.