The 2012 royal meeting at Ascot gets underway tomorrow, and over the next five days, Dubai World Cup and Carnival form will be tested with regularity. Seven of the 15 runners from the 2012 Al Quoz Sprint (G1) will take their places in a field of 23, headlined by winner Ortensia, who went straight to England after her rousing last-to-first win in the race. The first four finishers in the upgraded Al Quoz, including Sole Power, Joy And Fun, and Monsieur Joe are amongst the competitors.
Helmet, listless in the UAE Derby, has drawn a tough lot in the lid-lifter, the Queen Anne Stakes (G1) against the likes of still unbeaten Frankel. Red Jazz, third in the Godolphin Mile (G2) behind African Story will also give it a shot. Wrote, third home in the UAE Derby (G2), will be one of 16 in the St. James’s Palace Stakes (G1), where stable companion Power is a well-backed choice.
Dubai Sheema Classic winner Cirrus Des Aigles will bypass Wednesday’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes (G1) in favour of a run on home soil in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (G1). Dubai World Cup night will still be represented well in World Cup third and fourth, Planteur and So You Think, along with Dubai Duty Free (G1) third and fourth, City Style and Wigmore Hall.