Exciting French fancy on six-race winning streak out to upset the big names in deep Summer Mile

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No Lunch will attempt to revive memories of Solow, another grey miler to carry the blue and white Wertheimer silks to success at Ascot, and arrives on the royal racecourse with a sequence of six straight wins to his name.

With soft ground his Achilles heel, No Lunch ran up the score on the all-weather over the winter, but showed he is a class above that when running down Seagulls Eleven in the Group 2 Prix du Muguet at Saint-Cloud in May.

The five-year-old Dubawi entire must concede a 3lb penalty for that success to a field headed by confirmed Group 1 performers More Thunder and Docklands, but trainer Christophe Ferland is confident No Lunch is ready to be seriously competitive.

"He's a very straightforward horse who breaks well, so the draw [stall seven] doesn't worry me," said Ferland. "It's a strong race but he's a good horse and it will be interesting to take up the challenge.

"Good ground is perfect for him and he's versatile depending on how much pace there is. If nobody wants to go on, he can make it, but we've seen before that he has a good turn of foot coming from behind as well."

Track quandary for More Thunder

A few of the runners bring strong Ascot straight-track form into the race, but how will they fare switching to the round course?

That is a quandary for trainer William Haggas with favourite More Thunder, who finished second behind shock winner Ten Bob Tony in last month's Queen Anne Stakes, having filled the same position in the Wokingham last year.

"This will be his first time around a bend for us, which will be interesting and will tell us which way to go for the rest of the season," said Haggas. "He takes a bit of time to warm up out of the stalls, so that might catch him out."

More Thunder has plenty of options over varying trips

More Thunder has finished second in Group 1 company on his last two startsCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

More Thunder, who is usually held up, has been drawn in stall one and a slow break could increase the possibility of meeting trouble against the rail.

He is not alone in encountering new territory as Docklands, who won the Queen Anne last year, Holloway Boy and Jonquil (who represents new race sponsors Juddmonte) have all won on the straight course and will be having their first runs on the round course at Ascot.

As well as in the Queen Anne, More Thunder also finished in front of some of these rivals when second in the Lockinge in May and he will be a danger to all on this drop in class in a race his owner Saeed Suhail won with Never So Brave last year.

"He's doing well," added Haggas. "I think he'll get a mile and a quarter – Michael [Sir Michael Stoute] won a race with him over that trip. It's a strong race and rightly so. Zeus Olympios and Seagulls Eleven will go forward, so he'll have to come and do them. He's very genuine and in good form."

Haggas has won the Summer Mile three times, with Aqlaam (2009) and Mutakayyef (2016 and 2017), and is looking to equal the record for most victories in the race set by Richard Hannon snr.

What they say

Harry Eustace, trainer of Docklands
It's a very deep Group 2. He's come out of the Queen Anne very well. I wasn't sure whether he was quite switched on for the way the race was run as he'd had a little bit of a gap from Hong Kong. We're keen to see how he runs as that will shape the rest of the season.

Karl Burke, trainer of Holloway Boy and Zeus Olympios
Holloway Boy is in good order and loves Ascot. He has never run on the round course there, but he likes the straight track. Zeus Olympios is in great nick and we're very happy with him. The track should suit him too.

Hugo Palmer, trainer of Seagulls Eleven
He didn't run at Royal Ascot. He seems to be in the form of his life, but he's going to need to be as it looks like a very strong race.

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