Royal Ascot: King´s Stand Stakes (Group One, 5 furlongs) 16.05 CET

The second race, the King´s Stand for the top sprinters, is another humdinger with an international field. Since the Australians started coming to this meeting they have cleaned up in this race and it does seem that Australian-breds are the best sprinters in the world. Here they are represented by Nicconi (David Hayes/ Frankie Dettori) and Gold Trail (G Portelli/ Michael Rodd) and the former is our fancy.

He has been beaten twice (on softer ground than he likes and over 6 furlongs) but his win in the top 5 furlongs event Down Under, the Lightning Stakes, gives him a great chance here, especially with the best Ascot rider in the saddle. Gold Trail is blindingly fast, but may possibly not last home.

Equiano (Barry and Michael Hills) won this race in 2008 for a Spanish stable and has come back to form this season, while Kingsgate Native won the Golden Jubilee, but after failing to fire at stud has come back into training with Sir Michael Stoute and will have the assistance of Ryan Moore in the saddle. He looks the best British chance of beating the Aussies. Henry Candy always does well with his sprinters, but his two runners Amour Propre (Dane O´Neill) and Markab (Pat Cosgrave) look held on form, and the same goes for the consistent Borderlescott (Robin Bastiman/ Neil Callan). More dangerous could be Stan Moore s Total Gallery (Richard Hughes), who won last year´s Prix de l´Abbaye, but he - like Equiano and several more of these -was behind Kingsgate Native last time.