Royal Ascot: St James’s Palace Stakes Nap and NB

By irishracing.com news

Day One of Royal Ascot provides the strongest card of the entire festival and the prestigious St James’s Palace Stakes is one of three Group 1s, and it’s going to be a cracking renewal.

Run over a mile on the round course, it’s open to three-year-old colts only, which means no geldings or fillies.

Aidan O’Brien holds the record for most successes as a trainer and he will be seeking to make it a perfect 10 on Tuesday.

A field of seven has been declared, which means there will only be two places on offer, and our expert has picked out two strong fancies to follow.

Selection: Field Of Gold @ 4/5 with BoyleSports

Next Best: Henri Matisse @ 7/2 with BoyleSports

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English, Irish and French Guineas winners all line up

We couldn’t ask for a better field this year, with all three winners of Europe’s major mile classics being set to take their chance. Ruling Court won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, having won a Meydan Listed contest beforehand, but the overriding view is that he was a fortunate winner.

Charlie Appleby’s colt managed to win by half-a-length that day and comes here after being a late withdrawal from the Derby earlier this month due to the softer ground.

Field Of Gold came second that day and he made no mistake when going one better in the Irish equivalent next time. Aidan O’Brien sent Henri Matisse over to France and he obliged in the French equivalent, getting the better of stablemate and subsequent French Derby winner Camille Pissarro.

Rashabar and Officer were both comfortably beaten in the Irish 2000 Guineas and have a fair amount to find on that evidence, although the former did win the Coventry Stakes here last season. Both Windlord and First Wave look like potential pace angles for Field Of Gold and Henri Matisse.

Field can strike gold

John & Thady Gosden’s FIELD OF GOLD was given plenty to do when runner-up in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket last month and jockey Kieran Shoemark lost his job as a result. It was obvious from his dominant display in April’s Craven Stakes that this is a special horse and he has loads of ability.

The Irish 2000 Guineas at the Curragh was next on the agenda and it’s fair to say that he left Newmarket well behind him. Colin Keane took over riding duties and the son of Kingman produced an unbelievable performance to score by just shy of four lengths.

That form surely makes him the one to beat and you would imagine that he’ll be able to reverse the form with Ruling Court quite comfortably.

Matisse could be the master

Aidan O’Brien is always the trainer to follow, as he has some of the best horses and is in the conversation for greatest trainer of all time. HENRI MATISSE was a very smart horse as a two-year-old and managed to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on his final start of 2024.

He began the current campaign with victory over 7f in a Guineas trial at Leopardstown, despite the fact that the yard was badly out of form. The son of Wootton Bassett showed a sharp turn of foot to win the French Guineas and the form is working out well.

A fast mile should suit this colt and if Ryan Moore can deliver him as late as possible, it’s very likely that he won’t be far away.