A name to note: Pierre Lapin bids to explode on to sprint scene

After Battaash lit up the Royal heath on Tuesday with a commanding performance in the King’s Stand Stakes, the search is on for a three-year-old with the potential to challenge him for overall sprint honours this year.

The Group 1 Commonwealth Cup, an integral part of the British Champions Series, has proved a most welcome addition to Royal Ascot since its introduction in 2015.

Few will ever forget the invigorating clash between Caravaggio, Harry Angel and Blue Point which provided one of the 2017 Royal meeting highlights, while last year’s hero Advertise went on to frank the form of the race by landing the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest.

Pierre Lapin: motored to Mill Reef success as a juvenileCredit: Mark Cranham

Most of the talk ahead of this year’s renewal has been reserved for Harry Angel’s half-brother Pierre Lapin, trained by the red-hot Roger Varian.

Attention is always drawn to unbeaten horses – he is the only one of the 17 runners to maintain that status – and the son of Cappella Sansevero won both his starts at two, including the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes at Newbury.

Pierre Lapin quickened up nicely on the good to firm ground that afternoon to slam Mystery Power by a length and a half and, while he will encounter vastly contrasting underfoot conditions this time, he is the name on most peoples’ lips.

Harry Angel’s trainer Clive Cox almost landed the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes last autumn with Golden Horde.

The chestnut colt outran odds of 16-1 when failing by a neck to fend off Earthlight. He won’t be anywhere near that price to go one better in the Commonwealth Cup.

The usual international flavour of Royal Ascot may be less pronounced this year, but not even the complications posed by the worldwide Covid-19 outbreak could prevent US-based Wesley Ward from sending his usual strong team to Berkshire.

His Commonwealth Cup challenger Kimari has won four of her six starts on home soil, including a fillies’ Listed race at Oaklawn Park in April.

Kimari went mighty close in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot last year and, while she’ll find the lack of atmosphere a totally different experience on her return, the fact that she boasts strong course form on an easy surface means few will dare leave her out of calculations.

Torrential rain on Thursday which left several jockeys describing the ground as “very testing” and bordering on heavy, may prove a blessing for some runners on day four, but it may have scuppered hopes that last year’s Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck – reported by trainer Aidan O’Brien to be unsuited by soft – would end a run of six subsequent defeats by landing the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes.

The Coronation Cup form has already worked out well courtesy of Stradivarius - will Anthony Van Dyck boost it again on Friday?Credit: George Selwyn

Doubts that Anthony Van Dyck will even be in the line-up meant his odds had drifted from 6-4 to 5-2 by mid-afternoon, and his position as favourite seized by Elarqam.

Anthony Van Dyck’s fall from grace since his famous win on the Surrey Downs has been such that some pundits were initially surprised that Elarqam wasn’t trading as favourite much earlier, particularly after the boost his form took on Wednesday.

After all, Elarqam’s short-head Haydock conqueror, Lord North, followed up with a scintillating three-and-a-quarter-length success from Addeybb in the Group 1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes which simply took the breath away.

Addeybb had previously landed two Group 1s in Australia this spring, so there is certainly a deal of substance to that form.

Elarqam is proven on deep ground – his York victory came on a soft surface – and there is also the possibility that he could also improve for the step up to 1m4f.

If Elarqam does stay he looks likely to give Hamdan Al Maktoum yet another winner of what is proving to be a fabulous week for the owner.

Elarqam (near side) only narrowly denied by subsequent Prince of Wales's Stakes winner Lord North on reappearance in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes at HaydockCredit: John Grossick

Varian sends last year’s winner Defoe into Hardwicke battle again, and will be hoping the six-year-old can return to his best after a most disappointing performance behind Ghaiyyath in the Coronation Cup at Newmarket.

With further rain forecast, it’s essential that punters focus on horses that have proven winning or placed form on testing ground.

The William Haggas-trained Hamish has plenty to find on official ratings with the likes of Elarqam and Defoe, but he couldn’t have been more impressive when turning a fiercely contested 1m6f York handicap into a procession last October.

He looks capable of further improvement this year, and adds further intrigue to what remains a fascinating race – even if Anthony Van Dyck declines.

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