St. James´ s Palace Stakes

This mile race for 3yo´s at 16.45 CET could even be the top race of the day, despite the strong fields for the first two races. However this event does not look nearly as competitive, as anything other than an easy win for the brilliant Frankel (Sir Henry Cecil/ Tom Queally) would be a sensation. Frankel, whose trainer was knighted last week, is unbeaten in 6 races and is clearly the best 3yo in Europe His spectacular victory in the 2,000 Guineas was one of the best performnces seen this century. On that occasion he made all the running and soon set up an unassailable lead, and if he repeats that form he will be almost impossible to beat here. His trainer has said that he does not need to make the running and different tactics could well be employed here, especially with another front-runner in the field, Wootton Bassett (Richard Fahey/ Paul Hanagan). That one was disappointing in the French 2,000 Guineas but is reported in top form now and soft going will certainly help his cause. However Frankel seems to act on any ground and would also have no problems with soft.

Another one that will like this easier going is Dream Ahead (David Simcock/ William Buick), who was rated the equal of Frankel last year; not sure why, as he was beaten out of sight when they met in the Dewhurst. He has been pulled out of all his possible races this year, waiting for softer ground, and could be a big danger. From the German point of view, Excelebartion (Marco Botti/ Adam Kirby) is the most interesting runner, as he was a very easy winner of the German 2,000 Guineas at Cologne just over 3 weeks ago and the runner-up then Gereon was third yesterday in the Union-Rennen.

However this is a far tougher race and the logical horse for the runner-up spot is Dubawi Gold (Richard Hannon/ Richard Hughes), runner-up in both the English and Irish 2,000 Guineas - and very unlucky (or badly ridden!) on the latter occasion. This could well be a tactical race, with Queally trying to hold up Frankel -no easy task as he is very headstrong- and let Wootton Bassett or someone else do the donkey work, but basically Frankel has to win.