The Pinatubo question: Keith Melrose assesses the St James's Palace Stakes

When the gap between the 2,000 Guineas and the St James's Palace is around six weeks, the latter does only a passable job at providing retribution, or even giving those slightly less precocious a chance to leapfrog the Classic winners. It seems unlikely to fare any better now the gap is less than a fortnight.

At least this is a fairly typical field for the St James's Palace. Seven runners is on the low side, but not unprecedented even in the last ten years. Galileo Gold beat six rivals, Kingman six, Gleneagles four. It also provides an adequate mix of Classic runners and up-and-comers, albeit with last Friday's Irish Guineas more or less forcibly excluded.

The Guineas comparison shows how closely entwined the two races are even at their usual separation. Of the last ten St James's Palace winners, four were doubling up after winning at Newmarket. Of the other six, four ended the season rated lower than the Guineas winner and only two higher – Kingman and Canford Cliffs.