Dream poised tofightoffa host of young pretenders

LOOK at the field in this year’s Diamond Jubilee and it has the look of old champion versus a flotilla of pretenders to the crown. The ageing champion in this race is Dream Of Dreams, an undoubted stalwart of the division who has nonetheless been a Group 1 winner for little more than nine months. He won the Haydock Sprint Cup last season, following up a stunning win in the Hungerford Stakes the time before. He might have taken the title of undisputed champion, but on his return here flopped in the Champions Sprint.

That has become the story of his career. He’s a big, flashy chestnut who looks every inch a champion, but he has won only a quarter of his 28 turf races and has twice been beaten in this race when he should probably have won. He could easily be on a Diamond Jubilee hat-trick.

In 2019, Dream Of Dreams ran the final three furlongs 0.65sec quicker than winner Blue Point but failed by just a head in second, and it was a similar story in last season’s race.

On that occasion Dream Of Dreams again powered home and completed the final three furlongs in a time 0.29sec quicker than anything else, but he failed by a head for the second consecutive year, this time finding the line coming too soon behind Hello Youmzain.

To put those into context, both races were run on good or quicker ground and the BHA uses a scale of six lengths per second in such conditions. That means Dream Of Dreams beat Blue Point by 3.9 lengths in the last three furlongs in 2019 and he was a length and three-quarters better than anything else in the same section of last year’s race, yet he didn’t win either time.

The seven-year-old returned from a winter break with an easy victory at Windsor and maybe this will be the year when it all comes together, but, from what we know already, it may not pay to bank on it.

What he does have on his side is demonstrable aptitude in the likely conditions. While he is adept on firmer ground, his nine runs on soft and heavy have yielded three wins and two seconds. One of the victories was his finest hour at Haydock, while it was also on the soft side when he demolished the Hungerford field.

The main challenger had been expected to be Starman, who is reportedly likely to be scratched due to worsening ground conditions. Should he take his chance, the question is whether he can repeat his York heroics over the deceptively very different straight course at Ascot.

Nahaarr (below) was only a neck behind Starman in the Duke of York last time and he should be capable of reproducing that form at this course. He has twice won over 7f and was successful over this trip at Newbury last season. That has a 6f standard time of 1m 11.6sec.

The easing going may be crucial for Nahaarr. It was good to soft at York and his best form has come with cut in the ground, so connections will be delighted if the rain continues to fall.

The Duke of York has already thrown up one Royal Ascot winner this week. The third in that contest was none other than Oxted, who ran away with the King’s Stand on Tuesday. Starman and Nahaarr were more than three lengths clear of Oxted at York, so the form is rock-solid.

Some horses will always fly under the radar and Glen Shiel fits right into that category. Let’s not forget he beat Dream Of Dreams and Starman when landing the British Champions Sprint over course and distance last year. That was on easy ground and he also wants plenty of rain.

Glen Shiel recorded the highest Topspeed figure on offer in this race when landing that contest on Champions Day and will be a major factor if soft appears in the going description.

Art Power finished fourth behind Glen Shiel on that occasion and that was good enough for the third highest Topspeed figure in this race, with only Glen Shiel and Dream Of Dreams higher.

Art Power keeps coming up short at the top level, though, and was only sixth when favourite for the Duke of York last month. Even his highest RPR of 117 is short of the standard needed.

So who could spring a surprise? How about the German raider Namos?

Dominik Moser saddles his first Royal Ascot runner and he is 2-16 in Britain in the last five seasons. The two winners returned at 33-1, including 2019 Hackwood Stakes scorer Waldpfad and German horses generally love testing ground, so the rain is ideal for Namos.

PADDY TWOMEY might not be an instantly recognisable name in Britain, but his reputation has been soaring in Ireland and his strike-rate is remarkable.

He has sent out seven winners from just 28 runners this season, while nine others have been placed. He had a 22 per cent success rate last year, 29 per cent in 2019 and 25 per cent in 2018. This is a trainer going places.

The fact Moyglare kept Sonaiyla in training with Twomey after splashing the cash last December speaks volumes. They forked out 900,000 guineas for the daughter of Dark Angel and could get £396,970 of it back if she wins. Such a scenario is not beyond the bounds of possibility either.

Sonaiyla did remarkably well to win the Group 3 Ballyogan Stakes at the Curragh last time, having almost been knocked over shortly after leaving the stalls, and Twomey