Sea Of Class bids to show she can be the new queen in Prince of Wales's Stakes

3.40 Royal Ascot
Prince of Wales's Stakes (Group 1) | 1m2f | 4yo+ | ITV/Sky

The queen of the turf may be absent from Royal Ascot but the princess who last autumn so nearly took her crown assumes star billing for the Prince of Wales's Stakes, as Sea Of Class launches her season on the sport's greatest stage.

Hopes had been high that Royal Ascot's valuable race would involve a second showdown between Enable and Sea Of Class, whose storming late challenge so nearly carried her past the defending champion in last year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

Connections have chosen to wait with Enable but William Haggas has always been keen to run the Tsui family's dual Group 1 winner in this £750,000 feature, in which she will be partnered by regular rider James Doyle, who became free when Godolphin rerouted Masar to Saturday.

"This has always been the first target of the season," said Haggas. "The Arc is uppermost in our minds but the aim is to have her for four or five races this year and one of those is the Prince of Wales's Stakes.

"It would be easy simply to run her in fillies' races, but we need to find out whether she's as effective at a mile and a quarter as she is at a mile and a half, over which we know she is very good. I wanted to explore the trip question early on because that potentially brings other races into our calculations. I think racing against the colts proves how good a filly is. If she's up to the task it'll be interesting and exciting."

Haggas added: "We've done as much as we need to do with her. She's very well and we're very happy with her. If I've got it wrong, I've got it wrong. We're obviously desperately keen to have her at her best, and we think she is, so it's onwards and upwards. I'm looking forward to it, although rain wouldn't be helpful to her."

ProsA superstar at three who was unlucky not to win the Arc

ConsNeeds to prove she is as good over 1m2f as she is over 1m4f

Magical out to continue winning run

Magical has been enjoying a season to match her name but her stiffest test of 2019 so far comes as she takes on some of Europe's finest middle-distance performers in the Prince of Wales's Stakes.

Three runs this year have yielded three wins, but in every one of those races – the most recent of which was the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup – the Coolmore four-year-old beat the same horse into second, her Irish St Leger-winning stable companion Flag Of Honour.

Yet while that form might not get all punters excited, Magical showed her suitability for this prize last autumn when winning at Ascot on Qipco British Champions Day before making Enable work hard in the Breeders' Cup Turf.

For her return to Ascot she leads a twin-pronged Aidan O'Brien challenge completed by last year's Hampton Court Stakes winner Hunting Horn.

"We're very happy with Magical," said O'Brien. "She seems to be in good form and we were very happy with her last two wins at the Curragh.

"Hunting Horn ran well at Belmont last time in the Man o' War Stakes and is in good form."

Magical prosIn tremendous form this year and cause is helped by her uncomplicated nature

Magical consLatest Group 1 win came in a seriously poor race for that level

Fourth time lucky for Crystal Ocean?

If at first you don't succeed, try again. That is the approach of Crystal Ocean's trainer Sir Michael Stoute and owner Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, who are attempting for a fourth time to make the admirable performer a Group 1 winner.

The five-year-old has had three tilts at Group 1 company and finished second every time, including twice at Ascot, in last year's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Champion Stakes.

That last effort came over the mile-and-a-quarter trip he now tackles in the Prince of Wales's Stakes, in which Frankie Dettori gets aboard this season's two-time winner for the first time.

Dettori said: "It's probably the best race of the week but I like him a lot. He loves Ascot, he's two from two this year and he's a real heavyweight, a proper horse who won't go down without a fight."

ProsWonderfully consistent and highly likely to run at or close to his best

ConsHas looked a better horse over further than 1m2f

Fabre hoping to celebrate Ascot anniversary

It is 30 years since Andre Fabre trained his first winner at Royal Ascot, where two of his triumphs have come in the race he hopes to land again with Waldgeist.

Manduro in 2007 and Byword in 2010 both claimed the Prince of Wales's Stakes for France's master trainer, now returning with a stable stalwart who had looked to be much more a mile-and-a-half performer until successfully dropping back in trip when storming clear in the Prix Ganay last time out.

"It's a Group 1, so I cannot be over-confident, but he's now a five-year-old, so physically he should be at his best," said Fabre.

"I think he's just as good over a mile and a quarter as he is over a mile and a half. He went very close to winning the Jockey Club over a mile and a quarter and he does have speed. I simply chose to run him in sometimes easier races over a mile and a half.

"The draw is a concern but I expect there will be pace. He has won on all types of surface but I would prefer to see good ground because he's not the strongest horse and he has a light action."

ProsHas established himself as a solid Group 1 performer with an excellent turn of foot

ConsHas hitherto been susceptible to rivals of the very highest class

Varian feels there's more to come from Prince

Patience is reaping dividends with Zabeel Prince, who at the age of six has taken his form to a new level. He now tries to take it even higher having been handed the stiffest task of his life.

Prior to this season Sheikh Mohammed Obaid's gelding had won nothing bigger than a Doncaster Listed race. However, in what has been an enormously productive spring, a wide-margin success in the Group 3 Earl of Sefton Stakes was followed by a convincing verdict over Study Of Man in the Group 1 Prix d'Ispahan.

Waldgeist had beaten Study Of Man by a much bigger margin a few weeks earlier, which shines a light on the further progress Andrea Atzeni's mount needs to find – but trainer Roger Varian is not ruling out him finding it.

"He's in a good place at the moment. I'm not sure I've ever had him better," said Varian.

"You can argue he has run two personal bests this year. He needs another one to win the Prince of Wales's Stakes but the exciting thing is he might not yet have reached his ceiling.

"I'm pretty hopeful he can step up again. He has never run over ten furlongs before, and he needs to prove he stays the trip, but it's also possible he could improve further because of it."

ProsRiding an upward curve and even aged six he could still be improving

ConsWon one of the sport's weaker Group 1 races and a simple repetition of that form would not be sufficient to score here

Japanese fans will stay up late for Deirdre

Deirdre is a big price to conquer the Prince of Wales's Stakes but, win or lose, she has ensured the race starts 40 minutes earlier than was originally planned.

In order to allow Japanese fans get to see their star mare compete before midnight, Ascot has moved the Wednesday feature from 4.20pm to 3.40pm, when two channels in Japan will be broadcasting the contest live.

Prince of Wales's Stakes contender Deirdre has raced in Japan, Dubai and Hong Kong already this seasonCredit: Hkjc

Trainer Mitsuru Hashida said: "Deirdre has shown herself to be very competitive in international races in Hong Kong and Dubai. We believe she has inherited the talent for Ascot from her father, Harbinger, and we look forward to seeing it at Royal Ascot."

Even bigger odds are available about Desert Encounter, last in this contest 12 months ago but subsequently a Grade 1 winner in Canada.

"This is obviously a touch ambitious but he's a grand old stager who owes nobody a thing," said trainer David Simcock.

"We'll ride him as we always do and hope he can come home strongly and pick up some of the pieces. After this race the plan is to take him to North America for a couple of Grade 1s."

Spotlight verdict

There's no Masar but this is still a tremendous race in prospect with six of the eight runners top-flight winners and a host of star names among them. Crystal Ocean looks by some way the best of the male contingent but he would appeal more at 1m4f and this may well be between the fillies MAGICAL (nap) and Sea Of Class. The latter was unlucky not to win last season's Arc and, with the drop back to 1m2f of no concern, is much respected. However, she missed her intended return in May, which just sows a seed of doubt as to whether she'll be quite at her peak today. By contrast, Magical comes here after three excellent wins this season, last time in great style in the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup. That easy win is top-class class form and Aidan O'Brien's filly is readily preferred.

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