Glory heads Gold Cup nine Fame And Glory will face eight rivals when he defends his crown in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot on Thursday. The multiple Group One winner successfully took up the mantle from Aidan O'Brien's star stayer Yeats when winning the two-and-a-half-mile feature 12 months ago. The six-year-old subsequently went on to land the inaugural British Champions Long Distance Cup at the same track and made a winning return in the Vintage Crop Stakes at Navan. The pair likely to give the hot favourite most to think about hail from the Godolphin team. Mahmood Al Zarooni's Opinion Poll was second to Fame And Glory a year ago and has made an excellent start to the new campaign, landing the Dubai Gold Cup and the Henry II Stakes at Sandown on his return to Britain. However, Frankie Dettori has deserted him, opting to ride Colour Vision instead with Mickael Barzalona coming in for the plum ride on Opinion Poll. Dettori's agent, Ray Cochrane, said: "It was Frankie's decision. "It's taken a while for him to make up his mind but he has decided to go with the younger horse as he thinks he has improved a lot from last year. "It's going to be a great race. I think we all hope it's run on decent ground." Colour Vision made a most impressive debut for Saeed bin Suroor in the rearranged Sagaro Stakes on the all-weather at Kempton and is another major player. John Oxx's Doncaster Cup winner Saddler's Rock is expected to improve significantly for his recent return at Leopardstown, while the consistent Gulf Of Naples takes a significant step up in grade for Mark Johnston. Askar Tau, Bridge Of Gold, Caucus and Nehaam complete the line-up.
