Classic hopes could bring eight-year wait for second Group 1 to an end

Jessica Harrington carried the form her stable showed during the spring festivals of 2017 into the early part of last year's Flat campaign, a run of success which was responsible for her best seasonal total of 42 winners.

The main strength of the Harrington team last year was the quality of her two-year-olds. Early season types like Brother Bear and Alpha Centauri went to Royal Ascot with favourite's chances in the Coventry and Albany Stakes, and she was unlucky at least one of them did not win. Both return this season and there are genuine hopes others such as Landshark and late-season maiden winners The King and Whirling Dervish can also be Classic aspirants.

The star of her quite small band of older horses, despite his lacklustre effort on Dubai World Cup night, is the stayer Torcedor, who almost took the scalp of Order Of St George for a second time on Champions Day at Ascot. Another tilt at the Ascot Gold Cup and the major staying contests in the autumn again look likely.