Bocca Baciata up in trip at Ascot Bocca Baciata represents Jessica Harrington in the Qipco British Champion Fillies And Mares Stakes at Ascot. A winner of a Group Three at the Curragh two starts ago, the three-year-old steps up to a mile and a half for the first time after finishing third in the Blandford Stakes over 10 furlongs. "Everything has gone well with her, I'm just hoping the ground will be soft enough, but it should be," Harrington said. "She ran at Ascot in the summer so the travelling doesn't bother me. "She's in good form. She's had a nice break since running at the Curragh as she had a few quick runs before that. "We brought her back to a mile and now we're trying her over a mile and a half, which, if she stays, will open up plenty of options for next year as she stays in training." Aidan O'Brien runs Tapestry, second in the Blandford but down the field in the Arc. Kevin Buckley, Coolmore's UK representative, said: "She was a bit disappointing in the Arc, to be honest, but she's come out of it fine." Ralph Beckett is not concerned about the drop in trip for St Leger heroine Simple Verse. Plenty has been written about the filly who beat the boys at Doncaster but lost the race in the stewards' room - only to get the Classic back on appeal. The St Leger is over a mile and three-quarters, but Beckett does not view the two furlongs less she will be asked to tackle at Ascot as a negative. "She has improved as the year's gone on and she's battle-hardened these days. I don't think a mile and a half will hold any fears," he said. "She doesn't seem very ground dependent. She won on fast ground in the summer and that wouldn't worry me at all. "It's been great fun, we've had a great trip with her." David Elsworth's Arabian Queen caused a 50-1 upset in the Juddmonte International at York when beating Golden Horn, but finished down the field behind Treve on her only subsequent start in France. Owner Jeff Smith said: "We've put a line through France. It was heavy ground and she didn't travel well, she wasn't drinking as much as she should have. "Some say York was a fluke but I look at it the other way - Golden Horn has upheld the form in Ireland and in the Arc. "Good to soft ground will be fine, the ground in France would have been called heavy here. "Don't forget she was a close-up fifth over a mile on very fast ground at Ascot, so it was never going to suit her. "It was very fast ground in the Nassau, too, so she just couldn't use her speed in the Vermeille. "We're going there full of hope."
