Sam King takes a look at the St James's Palace Stakes on the opening day of Royal Ascot.
Tuesday afternoon will see all three 2000 Guineas winners take each other on in the three-year-old mile contest at the royal meeting for the first time since Galileo Gold landed the spoils in 2016. All eyes will be on Notable Speech and Rosallion as they renew their rivalry from Newmarket back in May, while the supplement of French winner Metropolitan adds further International spice to what looks sure to be a mouthwatering contest.
Notable Speech took a somewhat unconventional route to 2000 Guineas glory at Newmarket last month. The striking son of Dubawi was unraced as a two-year-old and kicked off his Classic preparations with a smooth victory in a conditions race on the all-weather at Kempton. A combination of him making his first start on turf coupled with a sizeable step up in grade would see Notable Speech sent off a relatively unfancied 16/1 at Newmarket, but quickly proved he was capable of mixing it with the very best milers on the grass when stretching clear of Richard Hannon's Rosallion in breathtaking style under William Buick.
Rosallion would go on to give the form a substantial boost when overcoming an uncompromising position to narrowly land the Irish equivalent at the Curragh a few weeks later and understandably, there will be plenty of supporters who think last year's Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere winner can reverse the form.
Richard Hannon's charge is almost certain to have stepped forward from his run at Newmarket, but I think he'll need to considerably in order to turn the tables with Notable Speech. The Newmarket first and second seem in a different league to me and although the round mile at Ascot should suit Rosallion, Notable Speech's experience around Kempton proves he knows exactly what it takes to race right-handed around a bend.
Outside of the big two, I think it's clear to see why Aidan O'Brien's Henry Longfellow is seen as a bigger threat than Poule d'Essai des Poulains hero Metropolitan. We've already seen what the master of Ballydoyle can do with horses who have disappointed on their seasonal reappearance - just take a look at City Of Troy's Epsom Derby performance - and it would be extremely foolish to rule out Henry Longfellow on the back of his below-par effort across the Channel.
In all truth, nothing went right for Aidan O'Brien's charge that day and he always looked on the back foot when poorly positioned in a slowly run race. Understandably, Ryan Moore was hardly vigorous on him in the closing stages, but he did pick off some of his rivals to finish back in eighth. In contrast, Metropolitan always looked well-positioned from his rail draw in stall one at Longchamp and although he clearly remains a bright prospect, as the figures and prices suggest, the Marco Baratti-trained son of Zarak appears to have plenty to find to trouble the market principals.
With eight runners set to go to post, there's certainly an argument for a few at bigger prices finding the frame. Of those, the fellow French raider Darlinghurst and the unexposed Almaqam have to enter calculations.
Darlinghurst saw the form of his Prix de Guiche success last month receive a major compliment when runner-up First Look finished second in the Prix du Jockey Club. Jerome Reynier's progressive three-year-old visibly has the turn of foot to play a hand in proceedings if able to hang onto the coattails of the principals around Swinley Bottom and definitely warrants a crack at Group 1 company.
The Ed Walker-trained Almaqam has been thrown into the deep in on his fourth career start, but there was plenty to like about his three-and-three-quarter length romp in the Listed Heron Stakes at Sandown. I get the feeling you might not see the best from this lad until he steps up to a mile and a quarter but understand why connections are having a crack given his options. The buzz and business of Royal Ascot also pose a question mark given he got loose before his Sandown triumph, but there's no denying the potential he brings to this scintillating line-up and it's by no means beyond the realms of possibility that he could work his way into the frame.
In other years, Darlinghurst, Almaqam and Alyanaabi, who finished fifth in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, would all be in with a live shot of landing the illustrious prize, but it seems they're being pitched into one of the deepest three-year-old mile contests in recent years. I think the market has it just about right with Notable Speech a general 6/5 chance and I'm expecting him to launch himself onto the world scene by confirming Newmarket placings with Rosallion.
One thing for sure though, whatever the result, we're in for a cracker.
