Forgotten Rules and Pat Smullen winning at Ascot last autumn© Photo Healy Racing
All eyes will be on Forgotten Rules on Thursday as the unbeaten favourite bids to give Dermot Weld another Gold Cup success at Royal Ascot, ground permitting.
Another product from the powerful Moyglare Stud operation, Forgotten Rules has come a long way in a relatively short space of time.
The five-year-old did not make his debut until April of last year, when every man and his dog seemed to know he would making a successful start in a Punchestown Festival bumper. He duly obliged.
He then provided Weld with yet another Galway Festival success on his first start on the Flat, before taking a big step up in class in his stride in the British Champions Lon g Distance Cup.
The son of Nayef's comeback victory in the Vintage Crop Stakes at Navan confirmed he would be the one to beat in Royal Ascot's two-and-a-half-mile feature, but Weld's prayers for rain in Berkshire in the days leading up to the showpiece meeting have been ignored by the weather gods.
Weld trained another soft ground operator in Rite Of Passage to win the 2010 Gold Cup in drying conditions, but he was not seen again that season and made just two subsequent appearances before retirement.
Speaking on Wednesday afternoon, Weld said: "I'll see what the ground is like tomorrow. All I want is safe ground for all the horses. This is a race over two and a half miles for older horses. It's not like it is for sprinters.
"I just want some kindness in the ground."
The man hoping to steer Forgotten Rules to Gold Cup glory is Pat Smullen and he is also praying for a suitable surface.
"If there's one horse I hope the ground is nice and safe for it's him, as he's the one horse I want to run," Smullen told At The Races.
"That's him, he needs the ground to be safe for him to take his chance.
"He's in tremendous form and he's a horse I'm looking forward to riding."
Aidan O'Brien has saddled a record six previous winners of the Gold Cup, with four of those triumphs claimed by the mighty Yeats.
This year's Ballydoyle representative is Kingfisher, who was runner-up behind esteemed stable companion Australia in last year's Irish Derby and earned his trip to the Royal meeting by winning Leopardstown's Saval Beg Stakes almost a fortnight ago.
O'Brien said: "Donnacha (O'Brien) was delighted with him in Leopardstown. He relaxed very well and came home very well.
"He ran a lovely race first time at Navan and came forward lovely.
"Obviously with the Gold Cup you're never sure with the extreme distance. You're never sure when you go past two miles what will happen but we're looking forward to the run."
The Irish challenge is completed by the Willie Mullins-trained Simenon, second and fourth in the last two Gold Cups, and Sabrina Harty's outsider Kalann.
Mullins said: "He's in good form I think. He had a good run at Sandown and we're hoping he can get into the first four."
