King's boys to Queen's racecourse

Royal Ascot looms with the prospect of two more of King's Best's sons featuring in G1 contests following Workforce's scintillating Derby win. But they are far from being the only Darley-sired runners at the world's best meeting

Few will argue that Royal Ascot offers five of the best days of thoroughbred racing to be found anywhere in the world. Right from the off, the stakes are high, with three G1 contests on the opening day.

The G1 Queen Anne Stakes could herald the return of Calming Influence with the King's Best five-year-old aiming to build on his victory in the G2 Godolphin Mile on Dubai World Cup night. The Godolphin team has been successful in this race in the past, with Dubai Destination and Refuse To Bend both being former winners, and their multiple challenge may also include another five-year-old, Sirocco Breeze, by Green Desert, and Skysurfers, by Darley America stallion E Dubai.

The big sprint of the day is the G1 King's Stand Stakes, in which another son of Green Desert, Markab, unbeaten this season, including in the G3 Greenlands Stakes, will take his chance. The Henry Candy-trained gelding faces challenges from Blue Jack, by Cadeaux Genereux, and Exceed And Excel's Spin Cycle, who was runner-up in the G2 Norfolk Stakes at the meeting in 2008.

Classic colts will clash in the St James's Palace Stakes later that day with Dubawi's 2,000 Guineas winner Makfi again set to make the trip to England from France. Among his opponents could be Shakespearean, a G3-winning first-crop son of Shamardal who shone on his seasonal debut for Godolphin in Listed company at the Investec Derby meeting. Elusive Pimpernel, the Craven Stakes winner by Elusive Quality, could also reoppose the Guineas winner, while Al Zir, the statuesque brown colt by Medaglia d'Oro who finished sixth in the Derby, also holds an entry for this race and the G2 King Edward VII Stakes.

Royal Applause's daughter Please Sing is a contender for the G2 Windsor Forest Stakes on the second day of the meeting, which also includes the G1 Prince Of Wales's Stakes. Allybar, another of the horses who gave King's Best such a good start to the year when beaten less than a length in the G1 Dubai World Cup, could face two Halling four-year-olds, G1 Grand Prix de Paris winner Cavalryman and Cutlass Bay, who landed the G1 Prix Ganay earlier this year.

Thursday, sometimes known as Ladies' Day but better known to racing aficionados as Gold Cup Day, sees last season's brilliant Cesarewitch winner Darley Sun, by Tiger Hill, line up for a shot at wresting the crown from the now-retired Yeats. Singspiel has already sired a Gold Cup winner in Papineau and his two sons, the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic winner, Eastern Anthem, and the G2-placed Tastahil, will aim to add to his record this year.

Also that day is the turn of the female Classic generation to perform on the Queen's Turf in the G2 Ribblesdale Stakes. Shamardal's first-crop daughters Acquainted and Siyaadah both hold entries, with the latter doubly engaged in the following day's G1 Coronation Stakes. The same dual entry is held by Singspiel's daughter Hibaayeb, who has already signalled her liking for Ascot's straight mile by winning last season's G1 Meon Valley Stud Fillies' Mile. Her paternal half-sister Eldalil has clearly impressed her trainer Sir Michael Stoute as, though she has only run twice in her life, winning a Newmarket maiden on her only start this season, she also holds a Ribblesdale entry.

Cape Cross is another Darley stallion with a double chance of Ribblesdale glory via his daughters Bakongo and Listed winner Mudaaraah, while French-trained Tiger Hill filly Hafjell, who built on her winning debut in April with a Listed-placed finish at Longchamp in May, could find herself representing Australian owner Nathan Tinkler at Ascot.

As already mentioned, both Hibaayeb and Siyaadah have the option of running in the Coronation Stakes on Friday, which is also the possible target for Field Day, a lightly-raced winning daughter of Cape Cross who represents her breeder Ballymacoll Stud, while the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Muwakaba is a potential runner for Sheikh Hamdan and is by Elusive Quality.

The G2 Hardwicke Stakes offers the chance for older middle-distance gallopers to shine and Halling, a consistent source of just that type of horse, has four entries, including last year's G3 Queen's Vase winner Holberg, Opinion Poll, Sabotage and the aforementioned Cavalryman. Eastern Anthem and Allybar also hold options for this contest, while Laaheb and Halicarnassus, who is seeking his sixth Stakes victory, could represent their sire Cape Cross.

The second leg of Britain's three-race section of the Global Sprint Challenge is the G1 Golden Jubilee Stakes, the highlight of the final day of racing at Royal Ascot. Once again this race will be targeted by the top Australian sprinters on the international circuit but they will have to do battle with the offspring of another Aussie superstar, Exceed And Excel, who is now a reliable sire of speedy racehorses, just as he was himself. Four-year-old filly Excellerator is one such challenger, as is Global City, twice victorious for Godolphin at Meydan in March and the winner of six races in total.

Once again, Exceed And Excel is leading the way with his juveniles and now has eight two-year-old winners in 2010. Don't be surprised to also find a number of his runners lining up in the first juvenile Group races of the season at the Royal Meeting.