French ace Suesa set for Royal Ascot showdown against top international raiders

Last season's blistering King George Stakes winner Suesa will head to the King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot next month after showing enough at Longchamp on Sunday to merit a return trip to Britain.

Suesa failed to cope with the deep ground in last season's Commonwealth Cup but showed herself to be a sprinting force to be reckoned with when dismissing a host of top sprinters including Dragon Symbol, Glass Slippers and Battaash at Goodwood the following month.

King's Stand Stakes (Ascot, June 14): all entries and betting

The application of first-time cheekpieces in Sunday's Prix de Saint-Georges saw Suesa travel much closer to the pace set by surprise winner Ponntos and although she was never able to get level with her rival, she battled well after being passed by Berneuil to almost regain second on the line, going down by a nose.

Trainer Francois Rohaut admitted he had been hoping George Strawbridge's daughter of Night Of Thunder would turn in the kind of performance that would have set her up as a serious rival to multiple Australian Group 1 winner Nature Strip, and Golden Pal, who won the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint for Wesley Ward last year.

But he still believes Suesa showed enough to suggest she is on her way back to top form after a couple of indifferent efforts.

"She'll go to the King's Stand," said Rohaut. "The winner was a surprise, but they’ve run the time you would expect to see from an Abbaye winner.

"She ran better and while she hasn’t totally reassured us, she showed more of her fighting spirit."

Suesa began her campaign when running down the field in the Al Quoz Sprint, a performance at least partly excused as Olivier Peslier found himself the meat in the sandwich when the two wings of the race converged in an effort by those drawn wide to get closer to Meydan's favoured golden highway up the rail.

"You have to forget Dubai, which was an off day and if you go back to the Abbaye she was a fair fifth from a bad draw," said Rohaut.

"We'll try and have her capable of reproducing her best form in June.

"I have mixed feelings in that I was hoping she would be back to her best and that we could head to Ascot with a fanfare. We’ll look at the sectional times but the filly looked a lot more willing and ready for the fight."

Pictured at Meydan in March, Berneuil is likely to be given a July Cup entryCredit: Racing Post/Scott Burton

Berneuil also looked more like the horse that spread-eagled the field last September in the Prix du Petit Couvert, and was another horse on a recovery mission after a fruitless trip to Dubai.

"We’d have loved to have won but they ran a very good time and we’ll try and have him better still for his next run," said co-trainer Yann Lerner.

"He's not entered in the King's Stand but we'll think about putting him in the July Cup when that closes this week.

"Before that there is the Prix du Gros-Chene at Chantilly and with the French premiums that is not a race to be overlooked.

"I want to see how he comes out of this but he’s really stepped up on how he’s been over the winter and I think he’s definitely returning to form."

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