Gavin Cromwell's Royal Ascot update: Kayhana leads the charge

Gavin Cromwell has revealed his plans for Royal Ascot with less than a week to go before the meeting.

The Co Meath trainer has a team of six horses heading to the iconic Berkshire racecourse but is most excited about Kayhana who will go in the Kensington Palace Stakes.

He has also given an update on his other five horses set to run at Royal Ascot.

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'She's improving...'

Speaking to William Hill with less than a week to go until the Royal meeting gets underway, Cromwell said:

“We have six horses who could potentially go to Royal Ascot this year and one we’re very excited about is Kayhana, who’ll go for the Kensington Palace Stakes (Wednesday, 5:35pm). She’s only had one run for us where she was just beaten by a head at Gowran Park a couple of weeks ago.

“She’s just been bought by Amo Racing and it’s really thrilling for us to have a runner for them at Royal Ascot. We’re hoping there’s more improvement to come from her and she can be competitive in this race. She drops back to a mile here which shouldn’t be a problem for her in a fast-run race and she’ll definitely get further.”

Five more possible Royal runners

Cromwell also gave the low-down on his other five potential Royal Ascot runners, including Robbies Rock, from whom the trainer is expecting further improvement in the Ascot Stakes.

“We’re hoping to have a couple of runners on the Tuesday, the first of which would be Robbies Rock in the Ascot Stakes (5:00pm). He’s just on the borderline of getting into the race but hopefully he will.

“We’re very happy with him and I think it’s very possible that he could keep progressing from his current mark. He’s a big, tall horse who seems to be constantly improving and I think the step up in trip is going to bring about even more. He’s pretty unexposed and could definitely keep improving.

“Next we have My Mate Mozzie set to go for the Copper Horse Handicap (Tuesday, 6:10pm) again. He’s a year older and a couple of pounds higher than when he finished third in the race last year, so there might be a couple of factors against him. That said, he’s working really well, he’s fresh, and ready to go. He should run well.

“We have another potential runner for the Kensington Palace in Snellen. We decided against running her in the Kooyonga at Navan on Saturday but she did have a racecourse gallop there.

“She runs well fresh and we’re happy with her at home. I can’t say she’s particularly well-in in the handicap but she’s in good shape and if she runs to her mark she could go well. She drops back to the mile having gone over further out in Bahrain, but the next fillies-only race would have required her to step up to a mile-and-a-half which would stretch her. It’s a stiff, straight mile which takes plenty of getting and that should suit her.

“Fiery Lucy could still potentially go to Ascot after her run at Musselburgh over the weekend. It was a messy race and in hindsight she might’ve been better making the running — I thought she ran well in the circumstances. She may have an entry for Ascot but we’re not certain so we’ll have to see how things go over the next couple of days.

She fits the mould and she’s taken her training well.

Gavin Cromwell on Brownstown

“Our final runner is Brownstown who will hopefully go for the Chesham (Saturday, 2:30pm). She will run at Leopardstown on Thursday (4.40pm) which obviously comes quite close to Ascot, but hopefully she’ll come out of that well and be ready to go next Saturday. We’ll see how she goes and take it from there.

“We won the race back in 2023 with Snellen and the conditions of the race are very unique. She fits the mould and she’s taken her training well. A lot will depend on how she runs at Leopardstown and that should tell us whether she’s capable of lining up in the Chesham. Based on her work at home, I think she’s a horse that can keep improving.

Don’t rule out a Derby runner in the future

Looking away from Royal Ascot, Cromwell didn’t rule out the possibility of having a runner in the Derby and hopes to continue to improve his figures on the Flat.

“Royal Ascot is the main Flat meeting for us at the moment but I would never rule out having runners in some of the other major races in the future, such as the Derby,” he said. “We’re not setting out with a specific plan to do that, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.

“We’ll keep trying to do things right and trying to improve. Who knows where it will lead us?”