Dalgleish hopeful of Scotland's second Royal Ascot winner since 1841

Keith Dalgleish is set to send his biggest ever team to Royal Ascot as he bids to give Scotland just a second winner at the meeting since the Victorian era.

What's The Story will attempt to improve on last year's fourth place in the Royal Hunt Cup while Soldier's Minute runs in the Wokingham, which the Linda Perratt-trained Big Timer took north of the border in 2008.

Prior to Big Timer the last known Scottish-trained winner was Lanercost, who was trained by William l'Anson at Gullane in East Lothian to land the 1841 Gold Cup.

Dalgleish, a winner of two races at Royal Ascot in his days as a jockey with Mark Johnston, has high hopes for the pair, who both scored at the Dante meeting at York last month.

"We've hit the crossbar there a few times and it would be great to get a winner in the board," said the trainer, who is based at Carluke in Lanarkshire. "Hopefully this will be the year and we're just trying to get the horses there in the best form we can.

"What's The Story ran a solid race last year and he's benefited from being gelded in the winter. The way he ran at York showed that and if I can get him there in similar form he'll run well. A mark of 100 isn't ridiculous and on any given day he can win off that – it's just whether there's something better on the day.

"Soldier's Minute is another one we gelded in the winter and he came on no end for it. He was really impressive at Kempton first time and he got a fair hike in the weights so we ran him with a penalty, but he'd been up and down in a week and it was too much for him.

"He was drawn too wide at Musselburgh next but we gave him time and he won really nicely at York. The handicapper has had his say but we've kept him fresh and if he runs similar to that he's got to be in the shake-up, hasn't he?"

Dalgleish expects to have five or six runners in total at the meeting, including versatile nine-year-old Mixboy in the Ascot Stakes.

Mixboy (right) heads to the Ascot Stakes for DalgleishCredit: Grossick Racing (racingpost.com/photos)

"He's been a great servant and has never run a bad race," the trainer said. "You need to stay the two and a half miles. He's been an amazing old horse – it doesn't matter whether it's hurdles, fences or Flat, he delivers for us.

"I Could Do Better is probably not going to have enough runs to get a mark in the Britannia so he'll have an entry in the Jersey.

"And I hope we'll have a couple of two-year-old or two, including Glasvegas, who won a novice at Hamilton. He'll probably go in the Windsor Castle. It's a tough race but he's okay and if you're not in it you can't win it."

Dalgleish will be at Ascot but did not go to York, saying: "I prefer to be at home, that's the way I am. The glory doesn't interest me at all, I just enjoy training the horses."

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